The Mentor
by New Elysia
Summary: The worst thing about thirst is that it takes control quickly, Vladimir realized this to late after his first feeding from a human in over 7 years. it's up to someone more unexpected to take up the duty of try to properly teach the young Halfling how to hunt and feed. R&R (moved to archive of our own)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Vlad backed away from the body in front of him, "oh god, Snow." His legs felt like jelly, his mind spun in circles as he tried to grasp the situation. She couldn't be dead, he couldn't have killed her. Vlad shuddered with fear and anger. He thought about what Otis had tried to tell him. The warnings he had given Vlad about his hunger. "You were right Otis" he mumbled and looked up at the night sky. Vlad collapsed against the wall. He sat there for a moment, trying to weigh his options and figure out what to do. He tried once again to reach his uncle, but to no avail. Otis wasn't responding in the slightest, the young Halfling leaned forward and cried. This was the time he needed Otis to most and he couldn't get a hold of him in the slightest. Vlad reached out again, attempting to contact his uncle for help, but it was still useless. The young half vampire pulled his knees closer and let the tears fall. Something perked in his mind, the sense that Otis had taught him. A vampire was near, very near. Vlad didn't move, part of him wanted to think that it was Otis, he hoped his uncle could help him. Vlad looked up, his eyes catching the swift movement of a shadow. No not a shadow, a person… his gaze trailed up to the vampire before him. A long black trench coat, black pants, and black shoes. He knew of only one person who wore such attire. D'ablo…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Vlad felt his body shake, on top of killing a human, he was now facing down his enemy. The vampire wasn't looking at him though, it was strange. After all the time that the elder vampire had spent following him and trying to kill him, D'Ablo wasn't making a move. Instead, Vlad watched D'Ablo remove the glove off his left hand and kneel down. Vlad suddenly heard a laugh from the vampire, confusion filled him. "wh-what's so funny?" his voice shook, so many emotions ran through his mind. He was really wishing that Otis was here with him, he wasn't sure he could take down vampire, much older and stronger than him, on his own. Vlad watched D'Ablo put the glove back on and turn to face him.

"Was this your first meal from the source?" Vlad couldn't find his voice, "or was it the first time you killed a human?" Vlad wondered if he could run from the vampire, if so, where could he even go? No car, no cell phone, no anything of use. He didn't even have the Lucis, he was stuck. Stuck with less than three feet between him and the crazed vampire stalker. D'Ablo laughed again, "Tell me something Vladimir," he smiled "did your uncle ever teach you the slightest bit on how to hunt?" the Halfling gritted his teeth, still remembering how Otis had tried to convince him. Something cold suddenly touched his chin, his head was guided up to see a smirking D'Ablo. "He tried to warn you, but you are a stubborn child." D'Ablo looked up and down the front of Vlad's shirt. The blood was drying on both his face and shirt, "what a mess" the vampire grumbled.

Vlad slowly got to his feet, "are you going continue to criticize me for not feeding like a vampire?" Vlad felt the cane move away, "you are the Pravus, there for you should not act like such a child." The tone in D'Ablo's voice was somewhat angry "you are also a vampire, to an extent." The last half of that sentence had come out in more a huff. "There for you shouldn't be viewing humans as anything other than a food source." Vlad clenched his jaw, "they are more than just food!" a smile crossed the elder vampire's lips, "you are right young Vladimir, they can also make excellent servants." Vlad felt his heart race with both anger and fear. "No! Even more than that! Nelly is my family, Henry is my friend, my best friend. I have a human girlfriend and more." Vlad felt anger boiling over "They aren't just food sources and servants!" Vlad snapped, his eyes locked with those of the elder vampire. D'Ablo pointed his cane at Snow's pale and lifeless body "and what was she?" Vlad flinched at the question "was she your friend?" Vlad felt his chest tighten "Your girlfriend? Next door neighbor? Class mate?" the Halfling clenched his fists tighter, "while killing the human you are feeding off of is not against Elysian law, you should at least learn some self-control." The elder vampire said, his voice carried a small hint of glee in it, something Vlad found odd. "If every vampire kills the human they are feasting off of, we might run low on food for a while. I don't know if your mother taught you; but manners, after all, are everything in the adult world." D'Ablo pulled his coat open and reached into the inside pocket "and so is self-control" "oh, you're one to talk!" once again, the older vampire laughed "I see how you could think that, considered how I've chased you, stalked you, and even sent trained killers after you." D'Ablo pulled out a small, white handkerchief. "But, in all honesty, feeding requires quite a bit of self-control." The vampire said, Vlad tensed when D'Ablo stepped closer and grabbed his chin. "You've been dinning on blood bags your entire life, something no normal vampire could do." "My father managed just fine!" D'Ablo simply shook his head and glared at him.

Vlad tried to move his head out of D'Ablo's hand, but the older vampire held on tightly. Vlad began to fear that he might break his jaw. The Alley way fell into silence, the only sounds that could be heard was Vlad's heavy breathing and quickly beating heart. Both of which brought a bit of joy to D'Ablo. Vlad closed his eyes as D'Ablo's face came closer. Vlad didn't think it was possible, but his body managed to tense up even more when something wet touched his cheek. He opened his eyes swiftly, only to see D'Ablo pulling the same white and now blood smeared, handkerchief away. "What? Did you think I was giving you a kiss?" he asked, a bemused look on his face. "No, I thought you were licking it." He said, Vlad watched with vague disgust as the Vampire spit on the fabric, "honestly, how do you think your aunt would react if she saw you walk into the house with blood smearing your face?" D'Ablo asked, Vlad felt the wet cloth rub against his face again. "At least with that black shirt of yours you can hid it for a short time." Vlad stared at him, this was become awkward, way awkward. To awkward for him, finally he worked up the nerve and pushed D'Ablo back. The vampire stumbled, but only a few inches. D'Ablo, once again, laughed. "Master Pravus, please try a little harder to behave yourself." He said, Vlad backed up, his back touched the cold stone of the brick wall behind him. The young vampire used the sleeve of his shirt to finish wiping his face.

Vlad felt his heart relax just a little bit, he looked at D'Ablo. He didn't dare take his eyes off him. The vampire refolded his handkerchief and stuck it back into his pocket. "Speaking of home, you should go there. The nights may seem long Vladimir, but time can pass faster than you realize." Vlad didn't move, his gaze slowly moved to Snow's body "what about her?" he asked "I'll take care of the body, you already partially ripped her throat out, it won't be too hard to make it look like a wild animal attacked the girl and dragged her into the nearby forest. Vlad had a sick feeling in his stomach, he felt like he was discarding Snow, discarding her like she was nothing more than a blood bag. "Now, off you go." D'Ablo waved him off. Vlad still didn't move, the elder vampire looked at him. A smile made its way back onto D'Ablo's face "you're not going, does this mean you want to stay and see how it's done? Maybe in case you decide to go about eating like a proper vampire." Vlad slowly shook his head "I-I just can't leave her here." He stuttered out the words "really? So you think you could just carry her to the nearest police station, drop her lifeless corpse off, and not expect to be arrested?" "No" Vlad's voice was soft, "let me handle this then, go home." D'Ablo's voice was more full of authority this time. Vlad realized there was nothing else he could do but leave. Vlad's shoulders slumped, defeated he left the alley way and walked down the street to the pay phone.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

D'Ablo walked down the hallway, the large metal door closed behind him. He had long since discarded the body of the girl in the near buy woods and returned to the thirteen story office building in downtown Stokerton. The hour long drive seemed to be shorter then normal. It was possible that it was just the small amount of people on the road due to the late hours, or maybe he had just been distracted. The president of the Elysian council in Stokerton had been doing some thinking since he watched the half breed walk away. He realized he had one of the best opportunities to grab the Pravus and make him reveal the location of Thomas's journal. But another thought had wormed its way in when he had seen the boy with his knees at his chest and blood covering the front of his chest and face. He realized that the ritual might not have been necessary, there might be a better way to achieve his goals. As D'Ablo walked down the hallway he was dragging a young male behind him as he walked. The male was not a vampire, he was just a simple human. D'Ablo had procured this subject for only one reason and one reason alone. He has been easy to take and Jasik looked at the council president as he approached a second metal door. "Sir?" he gave the vampire a questioning look "Jasik, go and gather the prisoners things and bring them back here." The vampire stared at D'Ablo, "are you serious sir?" "Yes, I am very serious, now go." D'Ablo put a bit more power into his voice, Jasik stared a bit longer before quickly rushing out. D'Ablo touched the glyph on the wall and the door opened. Behind the door was a room, it was pitch black. The room was so dark that a human could not see beyond the tip of their nose. D'Ablo stepped inside still dragging the human behind him, and then waited.

The vampire didn't have to wait long for Jasik to return, D'Ablo spied the cardboard box in his hands. The box with full of almost all of the paper work, letters, books, and other small items. D'Ablo's face stayed emotionless, he said nothing. Instead, he signaled with his head for the other vampire to come with him. Though the room was impossibly dark by human standards, it was not an issue for the two vampires. Their eyes quickly adjusted as they walked through the darkness. Jasik's eyes moved down to the human, a million different questions popped up in his mind, but he dared not question the president of the council. Whatever he is doing, he had a reason and a plan. That was all most people, if not everyone, knew to expect from D'Ablo.

D'Ablo stopped at the only other door in the room. "I hope you are awake Mr. Otis." D'Ablo said, a smile crossing his face. Everything was silent, not that D'Ablo expected a response from his prisoner. D'Ablo reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, silently he began to unlock the door. He wasn't worried about Otis attacking him, not one bit. The vampire was weak after all the torture and blood loss he had endured. It wasn't likely he'd try anything at that point in time. The last lock finally clicked and D'Ablo nudged the door open, "I have a few surprises for you Otis, at least try to look happy." Otis was glaring up at him, his body riddled with cuts and bruises. "I brought you a meal to eat." "Why do I feel as though this is my last?" D'Ablo smirked "it's not" slate colored eyes stared down at the blue eyes of the other vampire. "Give me a meal while torturing me? That doesn't seem right, I think that's the opposite of what you are supposed to do." D'Ablo smiled at him, "well, you are about to leave here, and considering how weak you are, I thought you might need to feed before leaving." "Leave?" Otis stared "what do you mean by leave?" he asked. "You are going home, where ever that is for you." Otis grit his teeth, "so, my punishment is banishment?" "No, no punishment, just letting you go."

Otis's face betrayed him, a look of shock seemed glued to his face. "What?" D'Ablo's face had gone back to being made out of stone. He didn't even smile, "I'm serious Otis, and I'm letting you go." Otis was silent for a moment, it was impossible to believe, this had to be a trick. "Forgive me if I sound a bit ungrateful, but I have to ask. Why?" without missing a beat D'Ablo spoke "multiple reasons, but the one you need to ponder over is the fact that your dear, sweet, little nephew needs you. And I would wage a guess that you should stop asking questions and eat. After that, I'll show you to your car and you can go." D'Ablo said, his slate colored eyes locked with Otis's blue ones. "What is the catch?" "Something very simple, stay out of trouble with Elysia and me for a few months, and I might and I stress the word 'might' consider just letting you go completely." Otis was silent, his eyes shifted down to the unconscious human behind the president. His eyes closed as the he realized that Vlad needed him. Thoughts pummeled his mind as to the reason why, his biggest fear quickly emerged. What if something had happened to Nelly? Or to Henry? Otis closed his eyes and then looked at D'Ablo "stay out of trouble then?" the council president just nodded once.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Otis ran up the steps to the front door, ready to kick the door down if necessary. The drive from Stokerton to Bathery was possibly one of the longest in his entire life, the fear he felt was uncontrollable. He had to make sure, he had to know. He worried about both his Nephew and Nelly. They could be hurt or worse and he wasn't there to protect them. He scolded his self for leaving, for not informing Nelly about the possible dangers. Vlad knew, but he was young and stubborn to listen. As Otis ran up the small flight of steps to Nelly's door, he feared that Vlad could have actually attacked his aunt out of hunger. He feared that the thing that worried him the most had come to pass. Otis put his hand on the door handle and found the door unlocked. It surprised him, being so late at night after all. Small town or not, he'd think that Nelly would lock her door before going to bed This fact only served to deepen his fears that something was wrong. In one swift move he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Nelly! Vladimir!" he shouted out, fear had griped the vampire completely. It had to be the worst feeling to know something could have happened to them. Time felt slower, like nothing was moving as it should be. His eyes locked on a figure rushing into the living room, it was Nelly. He felt relief, she was ok, safe and sound. "Nelly" he rushed to her, his arms wrapped around her "Otis?" "Oh god, Nelly I was so worried." He said, "Otis, where have you been?" he asked "it's a long, long story" he said. "Where is Vladimir?" he looked around. "He went out with friends, and…" "He hasn't come back?" Otis felt his heart sink. "Where did he go?" "I'm not sure, I don't really remember the name." she said. Otis felt the panic rise back up inside him. "Call Henry, I hope he knows where he is, if not…" Nelly's eyes widened "Otis, what's going on?" her voice had become full of a noticeable panic, something Otis hated to hear. Nelly walked over to the phone, Otis could hardly keep himself from simply running back to the car and going to take a look for himself. He needed to know that Vlad was alright, that he was safe.

Henry turned his head as the phone rang, Vlad stared at his best friend. "Hello?" Vlad couldn't help but think about what had happened earlier that night. The taste of blood, the enjoyment, everything. And then there was D'Ablo, the weirdness surrounding his actions just wasn't right. "Yes, Vlad is here" Henry's voice drew him out of his thoughts. He looked back at henry as he set his phone back down. "Huh, that was weird…" Vlad raised an eyebrow "that was Nelly, calling to ask if I knew where you were. When I told her yes, she asked me if you were here. Again, I told her yes and she just hung up the phone." Vlad sighed "that means she's probably on the way over here." He said, "I'll go wait on the porch for her, hopefully your parents don't wake up. "What are you gonna tell her?" Vlad was silent for a moment. Henry had an excellent question. "I'll figure something out, hopefully we can get a hold of Otis soon. I really need his help right now."

Vlad walked out and sat down on the steps in front of henry's house. His long time best friend came over and sat next to him, "I'm worried about you Vlad, and I've never seen you this messed up over something since your parents died." "I'm a killer Henry, I took someone's life just because I was hungry." Vlad felt Henry place a hand on his shoulder "it will be ok, I'm sure of it." Vlad just nodded and turned his attention to the road. He expected to see Nelly angrily stomping up the side walk to scold him. But instead, a car came down the road. A very familiar car, Vlad felt his heart race, could it be? Vlad stood "dude, isn't that Otis's car?" "I think so" Vlad felt Joy overwhelm him, maybe Otis had come back because everything had been solved. He probably found and destroyed whatever ritual D'Ablo was planning on using. The car stopped in front of the house and the engine died down. The driver's side door opened and he couldn't breathe for a moment. A familiar purple top hat rose above the car first.

Vlad's body was still as stone for that long moment, everything seemed like it was in slow motion. Otise came darting around the car, his top hat just barely staying on top of his head. "Vladimir, are you alright?" his uncle was back, Vlad was so happy that it took a moment for him to register Otis's question. "Vladimir" his uncle's hands gripped his shoulders. "Otis" Vlad felt the tears he'd struggled to keep back pour forth and he hugged Otis. The older vampire was shocked, but only for a moment. The taller blond haired vampire wrapped his arms around his nephew. Otis then looked at Henry, concern showed on both their faces. "You guys really, really need to talk about something." Henry said, Otis looked at Henry and then back at a sobbing Vlad. "It's like, really really big and important." Otis saw the look on henry's face, his fear then shifted from Vlad's safety, to that of someone who might have been close to him. He began to wonder if Vlad had snapped and drank directly from a human. Was that why he was so upset, was he afraid of himself? Was the person he drank from even still alive? Questions lurked in Otis's mind, but he knew that he had to get Vlad home. Gently, Otis Released Vlad from the embrace, and gripped his shoulder. "Come Vladimir, we should get back to Nelly, she's worried sick about you." Vlad looked up at Otis, his uncle gently nudged him in the direction of the car.

Otis pulled into the driveway, though the drive was only a few minutes from one house to the other it felt just as long as a drive from Bathery to Stokerton. "Come on, let's go inside and we can talk." Otis said, Vlad's eyes shifted to his uncle and he got out. Otis wasn't far behind as he locked the car and followed Vlad. The young vampire opened the door and walked inside, his eyes met those of a very upset nelly. Before his guardian could speak, Otis put his hand up. "Wait Nelly, we do need to talk to Vladimir, but it's a bit more serious than him staying out so late with telling you." "We?" Vlad's attention perked up, "yes, I think Nelly needs to know about this too." The young vampire went ridged. This was exactly something he didn't want Nelly to know at all. She couldn't know, she'd see him as a monster. She'd know he killed someone, someone who didn't deserve to die. Who should still be living, smiling and having a good time with her friends. Otis closed the front door and locked it behind him. "Vladimir, please don't be afraid, whatever it is, and we can help you." Vlad walked over and sat in the middle of the couch, Otis and Nelly gently walked over and sat on both sides of him. Vlad felt his aunt grasp one of his hands. "Now, please tell me what is going on." She practically pleaded, Vlad knew Nelly loved him like a he was her own. Otis was the same, he wanted to make sure Vlad was safe. Vlad knew Otis would do anything for him that he could. And he tried to, he tried to warn Vlad about his hunger. He tried to help him before it became a problem and Vlad didn't listen. "I drank from someone tonight."

Otis was tense, but for a moment it seemed to ease a bit. While he was worried for his nephew, this was something he had been trying to convince Vlad to do. It was necessary for him now, Otis reached up "oh Vladimir, it will be alright." "No it won't!" both Otis and nelly tighten their grip out of shock. "Vladimir" Otis said, "I told you this could happen, it's why I wanted to teach you how to properly hunt so that you knew what to expect." "It's not just that Otis, I killed the girl I drank from. I couldn't stop drinking her blood and she died in my arms." Nelly went stock still, her dark eyes moving from Otis to Vlad and then back to Otis. When Otis spoke again, his voice was soft "tell me what happened."

Vlad sat there, recounting the events of the night to both Otis and Nelly. He decided it would be best to omit the part about D'Ablo, which was just too weird to talk about at that moment. When Vlad had gotten to the part where he started drinking snow's blood, Nelly had stepped out. Vlad felt a pang of guilt, knowing it could possibly mean she was afraid to know that her nephew was truly a blood sucking monster. When he finally finished, Otis stared down at him. "Oh Vladimir, I'm so sorry. I really wish I had pushed this more before I left." Otis hugged Vlad close to him, "I'm so sorry Otis, I didn't want to kill her. I didn't even want to bite her, it just happened." Nelly sat down and rejoined them. Her arms wrapping around both her nephew and lover. "Vladimir, I want you to know one thing tonight." She said, "I could never hate you, I was just so worried when you didn't come home." Nelly whispered. "But I-" "made a mistake, like everyone else." Otis interrupted. Vlad stared at his uncle, "now, go up to your room. I'll speak with Nelly and then I need to talk with you in privet." Otis said, Vlad simply nodded and walked up the steps.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Vlad laid on his bed, face buried in the pillow and mind racing. What was he going to do, this wasn't like Stokerton, this wasn't the big city. People were going to realize she was missing and it wouldn't take them long to realize it. She wouldn't be just another dead body in an alley way like in the city. She'd be someone to everyone in town. Everyone would know her, remember her, talk about her. And Vlad would have to go to school with people around him wondering, worrying, and questioning what happened to Snow. And he'd know, he'd know exactly what happened. He'd killed her in a moment of pure weakness, he fed from her and drained her body of blood and just left her. He left her there in the alley way like some piece of garbage. Like an empty drained bag of blood, he didn't call anyone to tell them that there was a body there, he just left her for D'Ablo to dispose of.

A knock at his door drew him out of his thoughts, "Vladimir, may I come in?" Otis's voice called from the other side. Vlad considered saying no, but he remember that Otis wanted to talk to him. The young vampire swallowed the lump in his through and called out "yeah" his voice was shaky, but he did his best to pull himself together. The door opened and Otis walked in, his blue eyes stared at Vlad for a moment before he closed the door and walked over to the bed. Vlad felt the bed move and squeak with the add weight of the older vampire, "now, Vladimir, I know this must be troubling you deeply." "Otis that is the biggest understatement that you've ever made to me." Vlad said, the blond vampire sighed "yes, that is probably true." Vlad rolled over and sat up. "But Vladimir, I want you to listen to me and reconsider. Please allow me to teach you how to properly hunt." Otis said, Vlad stared "no" "Vladimir, please listen to me." "No! I can't drink from anyone again!" Vlad cried out "I don't want to kill anyone else!" Otis grabbed Vlad by the shoulders "you can drink from the source without killing them, Vladimir! It just takes self-control and will power to stop." He said "and I know you have that, I can take you to Stokerton and help you learn how to safely hunt and feed without killing." Vlad didn't respond, Otis could hear his nephew's heart racing in his chest. "Self-control…" Vlad murmured, Otis leaned closer to him, "he said something similar." Otis furrowed his brow, "He?" the thoughts of convincing Vladimir to hunt and feed were forgotten for a moment. "Who is he?" Vlad shifted uncomfortably. "Vladimir, who are you talking about?" the young, possible Pravus, bit his lip and then spoke the name "D'Ablo"

The name sent a chill down Otis's spine, he stared at Vlad. The realization dawned on him that the reason the council president had known Vlad needed him, was because he had seen Vlad feed and kill the girl. He'd approached Vladimir after that, he had to have. "Vladimir, you didn't tell me everything about tonight, I can tell you didn't." Otis said "tell me everything you left out." "All I really left out was that D'Ablo showed up, and…" Vlad paused "and what?" his uncle asked, Vlad wasn't sure how to explain it. The entire exchange between them had been weird, like really weird. Part of him wondered if it was really D'Ablo at all. "Some weird things happened, Otis." The older Vampire didn't speak. He didn't really have to, the concern and confusion was evident in his azure eyes. When Vlad finally spoke, his voice was a bit more confidant, but still shaky. "Well, after I, you know…" Otis nodded "he just showed up, I'm not sure if he was following me all night or not, or if he was waiting for me to leave the club alone and grab me." Vlad thought back over the past few hours, remembering D'Ablo's actions. "He walked over and I think he checked snow's pulse. After that he asked if this was the first time I'd fed from a human and if this was my first kill." "Did you say anything?" Vlad shook his head, his raven black hair falling into his eyes. "Not to his first two questions." Vlad said, "I just couldn't find my voice." Vlad admitted, the Halfling felt a bit of shame in this, but continued. "And this is where it got weird, Otis." Vlad said, his uncle put his hand on Vlad's shoulder "did he hurt you? Threaten you, me, or Nelly?" Vlad shook his head, "no, he didn't." Vlad said. "What happened?" Otis asked, not even bothering to hide his worries. Vlad sighed, his eyes went to the floor for a moment. "He started talking about how much of a mess I was, pointing out the blood covering my face and shirt." Vlad said, and then continued "he also mention something like what you said, that feeding takes self-control." Otis didn't speak for a moment, he was busy mulling over what Vlad had said. Though it had answered a few questions, it brought up a few more. "And you are sure he didn't hurt you?" Otis asked "yes, I am" the older vampire sighed, "I guess it's my turn to talk." Otis said "huh?" Vlad looked at him, "I want you to know why you haven't been able to get ahold of me these past few months."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Vlad sat there in his father's old chair, once again reading through his father's old journal. He had to find something, anything to help him find out how his father had resisted feeding from his mother. How he survived, supposedly, only on blood bags. He slammed the book closed, three weeks of looking through it had produced nothing at all. Vlad laid his head down on the desk, he felt his heart sink. How has his father done it? Had he really done it? The candle beside him flickered with a small gust of wind, the belfry was quiet, even at this time of night. Not even the Goth kids had come out tonight. Vlad sighed, yes three weeks had passed since the night he killed Snow, but the feeling of guilt hadn't lessoned. Even with Otis trying to convince him to at least practice, he wouldn't. Vlad never wanted to even think about drinking from a human again, he just couldn't do it. He was going to keep drinking from bags for as long as he lived. Vlad turned his attention to the picture of his father "you must be so ashamed of me." He murmured, he thought about his dad, "I wish you could be here, Otis has helped, but I need you too. I need your help dad." Vlad closed his eyes and started to fall asleep.

That didn't last long seeing as Vlad was startled awake by a hand clamping down on his shoulder "Master Pravus, should you not be at home?" Vlad opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder. He felt his body tense up at the sight of him. Those familiar slate eyes staring at him. "D'Ablo?!" Vlad started to push back and stand, but D'Ablo kept his hand on his shoulder. This, apparently, was enough to keep him in the chair. "Calm down Vladimir, I'm not here to hurt you." He said, Vlad's eyes darted around, once again he had nothing at his disposal if D'Ablo decided to do anything. "Ok, so please let my shoulder go so that I can stand." D'Ablo smirked and then let go of his shoulder. Vlad pushed the chair back and stood, "so, why are you up here in the middle of the night?" the elder vampire asked. "I come here to be alone," "alone?" the vampire asked as he walked around the small room. "Alone in the place like this?" "Yes" D'Ablo shook his head "I don't see how you could be alone in the old bell tower of a church. This is pretty much in the center of town." Vlad sighed and gestured to the bricked up spot on the wall. "They bricked up the doorway, the only way up here is to levitate or climb, even during the day when school is open." "I see" Vlad watched D'Ablo pick up the picture of his father, "so, why are you up here tonight?" he asked, Vlad didn't speak. The young half vampire moved to block D'Ablo's view of his father's journal.

Vlad bit his lip as he watched D'Ablo silently stare are the picture of his father "so…" Vlad's voice drew the attention of the vampire away from the photo. "Vladimir, I know the journal is on the desk, you can't hide it from me." The smile on D'Ablo's face was somewhat disturbing. The Halfling cringed and then faced the older vampire again. He took a deep breath and spoke "Why are you here?" it was a blatantly obvious question, Vlad of course knew that. But he had to know, normally he could at least sense D'Ablo or one of his lackeys with in 30-40 feet of him on any given night. And, this obviously being an abnormal occurrence, D'Ablo and his cronies had be shockingly absent from his evenings. "You've been oddly absent from stalking me since-" "since the night you killed that girl?" the elder vampire interrupted Vlad. Amusement spread across the vampire's body as he saw multiple emotions flash across the teen's face. D'Ablo walked over and looked down at the closed journal. His eyes then moved to the desk, on one of the drawers was a Vampiric glyph. A glyph that was the exact same as the ones for the young Pravus in front of him. That explained why Jasik couldn't find the Journal at his house, Vladimir had hidden it here, behind a sealed glyph. Even if D'Ablo had known, there was no way he could have opened it, at least without somehow coercing vlad to remove the seal before. And that would have just been a big pain in the ass. "Were you looking through here to see if you could find out how your father _supposedly_ controlled his thirst?" Vlad looked away "yes" it was a simple answer, but one that would suffice. "Did you find anything, I'm curious to see if it is even possible to do such a thing." Vlad simply shook his head "no, I found nothing" Vlad sighed "either my father never had a problem with it or considered writing it down." "Or he did have a problem with it and chose to lie to you." D'Ablo said what Vlad couldn't, Vlad frowned "why would he lie to me?" D'Ablo chuckled, it was an amused chuckle, not something with malice, hate, or bad intentions behind it. "It is possible he simply hopped you wouldn't need to feed from the source like a normal vampire. Maybe he expected your human half to be stronger and that you wouldn't need as much blood." Vlad looked away "though it seems, that hope was in vain." D'Ablo said and then looked directly at Vlad.

"As for why I'm here," D'Ablo walked closer to Vlad, his dark eyes looked into Vlad's dark brown eyes. "I'm here to offer some help." He said "help?" Vlad stared at him, "I can tell that once again, you denied your uncle's offer to learn how to hunt." Vlad narrowed his eyes and glared at the vampire. He didn't see how this was anywhere near being important to him. "Why? Does that bother you for some reason?" Vlad asked "yes, in fact it bother's D'Ablo quite a bit." Vlad spun to see Jasik climbing into the belfry. "I'd wager a guess that Mr. President here holds you in some sort of high regard for being the Pravus." Vlad turned to look at D'Ablo again, and what would you know. Vlad counted no less than five blood vessels popping out of D'Ablo's forehead. Vlad couldn't help himself, the scene was just too much, and he laughed. And he laughed hard, harder than he had in weeks.

D'Ablo sighed as he looked down at the laughing boy. His slate eyes looked back and forth between Jasik and Vlad "I thought I told you to stay down below." The president said, "I got bored and thought you might need a bit of help." Jasik shrugged "I did not need help, I had only just began talking to the boy." Vlad watched with a smile, though he was still curious about what D'Ablo and Jasik were doing here, he was still amused to see D'Ablo get angry over something so small and insignificant. D'Ablo turned his attention back to the amused half breed, "screw it!" without warning, D'Ablo grabbed Vlad by the midsection and threw him over his shoulder. "What the hell?!" Vlad shouted out. With Vampiric speed D'Ablo stepped back onto the edge of the Belfry. "Sir, what about the Journal?" Jasik asked, D'Ablo looked back at him with a smirk, "Screw the Journal, we have the boy!" and with that, D'Ablo lept out into the night, Jasik behind him and Vladimir letting out a very girl scream that was probably heard half way across town.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

D'Ablo and Jasik landed not too far from a simple, but nice looking black car. Vlad had obviously stopped screaming at the time and struggled to get out of D'Ablo's hold. The older vampire dropped the boy, watching as he fell onto his butt, D'Ablo and Jasik both looked at him as the younger vampire attempted to get to his feet. It took him a moment, but the young half vampire finally managed it. Vlad dusted himself off, straightened his clothing, and then looked D'Ablo in the eyes and said "you can fly?" the older vampire smiled "well…" D'Ablo was about to speak, but he didn't get the chance before Vlad opened his mouth again "YOU CAN FLY?!" Vlad shouted this time, his mind still hadn't fully registered what had just transpired. D'Ablo laughed, this wasn't just a chuckle, but a full on, head tilted back with eyes closed laugh. "No, oh no Master Pravus, I cannot fly." He said and laughed "then what the hell was that?!" "I prefer to call it 'Gliding and then falling'" the vampire said with a grin, "with Style!" Jasik hastily added, D'Ablo let out a rather disappointed sigh before unlocking the car. D'Ablo opened the passenger side door and gestured for Vlad to get in. "where are we going?" Vlad asked "Back to Stokerton." D'Ablo said "what? Why?" a smiled crossed the faces of the two older vampires "we are taking you on a hunt Vladimir Tod." Jasik was the one to say it "a hunt?" Vlad asked, the two vampires didn't even need to answer him though. The boy put it together on his own, a look of distaste and anger spread over his features "no" Vlad said, venom lacing his voice.

D'Ablo looked at him "it wasn't a question Vladimir" Jasik said "he's right, you need to learn how to hunt and do it safely. And when it comes to you, master Pravus, 'No' is not an answer I'll accept." Vlad's hands clenched into fists "I won't kill anyone else!" Vlad shouted "but you will if you don't start learning how to both hunt and feed the right way!" D'Ablo scolded "do you think you would have killed that girl if you had been more in touch with your Vampiric senses?" D'Ablo asked "well, no" Vlad looked away "and you know you'll just get hungry again, who's to say the next victim won't be your little drudge? Or possibly, your care taker, Nelly was it?" "I'd never hurt them!" D'Ablo got right up into Vlad's face, his slate eyes glaring at the teen "the word 'never' is such a strong word Master Pravus. Even if you do manage to _survive_ off bagged blood, at some point you will snap. And when, _not if_ , that happens…" D'Ablo took a step back "there's not telling who might be in the crosshairs." The older vampire spoke with power in his voice, Vlad looked down. He thought about Nelly and Henry, knowing full well that it could have been one of them that he killed. "Come with us tonight Vladimir, we'll give you a little bit of a push in the right direction." Jasik said with a grin "And I promise you Master Pravus, nothing bad will happen tonight. You have my eternal word as a vampire and council president." D'Ablo said. Vlad looked up at the two vampires. His eyes flitted from one to the other several times before the young Halfling sighed.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

They were probably about a total of five minutes outside of Bathery before it finally clicked with Vlad. He was in the car with two vampires that had at one point or another had attacked him for some reason or another. One of them, this being D'Ablo, had tried to kill him at least twice. And here he was, sitting in the passage seat, right beside the president of the Stokerton Elysian Council. Jasik was sitting in the back, silent as a lamb. Soft, classical music poured from the car stereo, the music released some, but not all of the stress Vlad was feeling. Vlad leaned forward and considered his situation, getting into a car with two men who probably still wanted you dead was about as smart as a fly deciding to sit on the strands of an occupied spider web. Vlad sighed "did you just compare yourself to a fly, Master Pravus?" D'Ablo asked with a chuckle, Vlad tensed. "Were you, in my head?" "Yes, I was." The elder vampire looked over at him, "and, you are not a fly, by any means." He said, Vlad lifted one of his eye brows curiously. "I'd put you alongside a small baby snake." D'Ablo said, Jasik was still silent, but he was grinning at what D'Ablo had said. "Baby snake?" Vlad asked, his eyes looking back out the passenger window "yes, you are small and full of power and venom, but not yet in control. With that power, you could do a lot of good and a lot of bad. You're also very capable of becoming a very powerful vampire one day." D'Ablo said with a grin and then looked at Vlad with his slate grey eyes. "That is, if you put the effort into it."

Vlad looked down at his hands, he saw the Elysian mark there before him. A mark like any other vampire, but more special to him. It was his mark, there had been none like it before and would be none like it after him. Another though flitted into his mind, one that deeply concerned him about his uncle. Vlad lifted his head and looked straight at D'Ablo "D'Ablo?" "Yes, Master Pravus?" the vampire gave him a quick glance of acknowledgment before turning his attention back to the road. "My uncle told me what you did to him." D'Ablo showed no hint of emotion, "yes, and?" "Why did you just let him go?" Vlad asked "I'm grateful and all, but that just doesn't seem like you at all." Vlad said, the car fell back into silence, well aside from the classical music still playing on the radio. Music from a long dead composer only made the situation more uncomfortable for Vlad. This felt just like a movie, a movie where someone started asking to many questions and got thrown into a river with a concrete block tight to their leg. D'Ablo let out a long sigh "well, I let him go because I thought he might be more use to me this way. I realized that if I killed your uncle, you'd find a way to get me back for it." He said "you are afraid of me?" Vlad asked, shocked at this bit of information, it was at that time that both D'Ablo and Jasik laughed "Master Pravus, you took a stake directly through the heart and survived. How could I not be worried about you?" D'Ablo asked, a smile spreading across the face of the council president. "But I don't have the Lucis." Vlad countered, "The Lucis is but one of many ways to end the life of a vampire, we both knew you'd find some other way to kill D'Ablo." Jasik said.

Vlad looked at D'Ablo, the vampire showed no emotion or worry on his face. Vlad wondered how long it took him to perfect such a technique, the ability to keep his face like that. But Vlad had seen it slip, he'd seen anger, physical pain, and fear on the face of the council president. Vlad bit his lip before speaking again "and the deal? You told Otis to stay out of trouble for a while." Vlad said, trying to get his mind off the past events, his chest still hurt from where Joss had stabbed him. Though the pains were more emotional than any lasting physical damage. He also remembered seeing D'Ablo hit the wall, a huge hole through his stomach. Vlad's own stomach clinched at the idea in mock sympathy. "Yes, I did. All he has to do is stay in Bathery for a few months and not break any more laws." D'Ablo said, "And then what?" Vlad asked "there is a good possibility that Elysia will chose to let everything go." D'Ablo continued, his steel grey eyes looked back at Jasik through the rear view mirror. "That is, of course, as long as he isn't a problem for the time being." Jasik said and looked back at Vlad. "Of course, it's possible he could have already screwed up without realizing it." D'Ablo said with a slight hint of an amused smirk on his face. "What?" Vlad stared at the vampire beside him, "what do you mean?" D'Ablo smirked. "Tell me Vladimir, how does Otis feel about your guardian?" D'Ablo asked, Vlad gave him ma questioning look. Vlad didn't even understand how that was even relevant until he remembered the Laws of Elysia. Vlad looked away "you can't seriously considering arresting him on that alone, can you?" Vlad asked, part of him felt tears weld up in his eyes. "No, just as long as he either goes no further or he turns her." D'Ablo said "turn her? What does that mean?" "Come now Master Pravus, you must have at least heard something similar on the movies and Tv you watch." He said, Vlad still stared at D'Ablo with a blank face. "He means turn her in to a vampire" Jasik said, Vlad stared silently. "Make Nelly…" he stumbled to find the words "a vampire" D'Ablo finished the sentence for him as he smirked at the boy.

Vlad considered it for a moment, would Nelly becoming a vampire like him and Otis be a bad thing. Nelly could learn to drink blood, and learn her new skills like Vlad was. She'd also be there for him for much longer than a human could. And more importantly, Otis would be happy with her and she would with him. They could be together, happy and in wedded bliss. Just like his parents were, just like he hoped to be one day. "Thinking happy thoughts Master Pravus?" D'Ablo asked "you better be careful or you'll end up floating out of your seat." D'Ablo said with a chuckle, Jasik was also laughing. But, then the older Vampire let out a soft sigh "and then get crushed by the reality of things." Vlad looked at him "the ideas you had are childish, ones only found in fairytales and children's books. Those types of things rarely, if ever, occur in our reality." The council president continued, "And the fact remains, Otis might not want to change her because he loves her for being human. It's a forbidden thing and that makes it all the more alluring to vampires like him and your father. If your care taker becomes a vampire, its possible Otis might lose interest in her." Vlad felt his heart sink, he'd never actually thought about that. It had never occurred to him that his father might also have been the same. Thomas had never changed Melina into a vampire, to Vlad's knowledge, she had been human right up to the day of the fire.

Vlad crossed his arms over his chest and looked back at D'Ablo, and then asked his next question "well, say Odis does decide to change my aunt into a vampire. Would he just bite her, give her the mark and call it a day?" Both D'Ablo and Jasik laughed "No, Master Pravus, it doesn't work like that in the vampire world." Vlad furrowed his brow. How could it not work like that, was there more? Did Otis have to rip out Nelly's heart and eat it or something? Was there some big ritual that involved sacrificing goats or some other animal? Vlad looked to D'Ablo to continue, but the vampire beside him was merely shaking his head with a bemused smile. That obviously meant that for the third time tonight, D'Ablo had been reading his thoughts. Vlad knew that the older vampire probably wouldn't let him live down the things he had just considered. "What D'Ablo means is that, yes Otis could just bite her and give her a mark and be done with it. But in Elysia, things do have to be registered." Jasik answered, Vlad looked at the vampire behind him. "Though normally it is just a registry with the nearest council to let them know another vampire now exists, in Otis's case, he might have to explain why he wants Nelly to be a vampire. And in cases like this, the council must approve it before it happens." D'Ablo said, Vlad opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted "and don't ask why, cause it's always been that way." Jasik leaned past the seat and gave him a serious look. Vlad stared at the brown haired vampire for a moment before speaking "Shouldn't you be wearing the seat belt?" Vlad asked the vampire. Jasik just shrugged and sat back down, Vlad notice he didn't bother with the seatbelt though.

The young vampire turned his head to look back out the window and noticed it, the buildings had become taller, street lights more common, and there were quite a few people out and about for the late hours. Vlad glanced at the clock on the radio, "1:39 a.m." Vlad said softly, back in Bathery everyone would be asleep at this time, at least he hoped everyone. Vlad was dreading that Otis was up right now and had noticed his disappearance. Vlad looked at D'Ablo "we have a couple hours to walk around, I can teach you the basics and we'll try to leave for Bathery around, let's say, 4:30?" Vlad looked back out onto the streets of the city. So many people were still out, Vlad wondered how many of them were vampires and how many were human were. "Yeah, I think that might work." Vlad said under his breath. "Nelly doesn't have work tomorrow, so she'll probably sleep in and Otis will probably still be asleep as well." Vlad tapped his fingers nervously against the arm rest between him and D'Ablo. It was to late to turn back now, he had returned Stokerton. And by extent, Vlad had also returned to Elysia it's self.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The three vampires walked down the street of the city, Vlad looked around at the passing night life. He'd never seen this many people out on the streets at night. Not even when Otis had brought him here, but Vlad guessed that was because they were on a more business side of the city. But this, this was defiantly less stuffy and business centered. In fact, it was more of an area made strictly for people to party. Bright Neon lights littered the fronts and sides of buildings, mostly advertising beer, card games, and a few advertising supposedly attractive women and men in one or two of buildings. Nelly would murder him if she ever found out he'd been in an area like this. If there was anyone in the world that could kill the Pravus, it was Nelly. Vlad bit his bottom lip, he couldn't help but wonder why they'd come here. With all the people out and about, wouldn't this be the worst place to feed? He couldn't help but imagine how easy it would be to get caught. Vlad looked to D'Ablo ' _so, is this where we're going to hunt?'_ Vlad thought the question at D'Ablo. D'Ablo looked at him, a surprised look on his face, but it only lasted a moment. Then, an impressed smile appeared on his lips. _'I didn't know you could fully converse with telepathy, Master Pravus.'_ The voice of the older vampire spoke in his head _'I can, but I have a limit to how far I can go before it stops functioning properly. I can still call for Otis from this distance, but we probably couldn't have a full on conversation.'_ Vlad said, D'Ablo turned to look back at Jasik, the other vampire was staring at a few women that had passed. Vlad couldn't help but to remark to himself that their 'skirts' barley qualified as belts. D'Ablo said nothing, but Vlad considered that they were talking telepathically. Vlad watched as Jasik shook his head and they continued on their way. _'To answer your question, yes this is where we will hunt.' 'Why?'_ D'Ablo came to a stop in front of a building. D'Ablo leaned against the wall and looked at the boy _'I take it, you were thinking something different?'_ he asked with a raised eye brow ' _honestly, yes I did. I kind of expected us to lurk in some dark alley way and wait for some unsuspecting person to come by.'_ Vlad said, _'and then we'd grab them and pull them into the shadows?'_ D'Ablo asked, Vlad nodded. Vlad jumped as both vampires, once again, burst into laughter. Vlad felt his cheeks redden with embarrassment. Clearly, there was a lot more to feeding from the source than he thought. _'You watch too many movies, Master Pravus.'_ Vlad couldn't help but smile. Otis had told him the same thing before. Now here stood the man, who was the epitome of cliché villains, telling him the same thing. Even Vlad couldn't help but to expect D'Ablo to be into something like that. _'I guess so, but knowing you of all vampires, I'd expect you to hide out in a dark alley way and offer candy to children.'_ D'Ablo grinned before Jasik nudged him. The two vampires looked at each other. "Should we not start, sir?" he asked.

"Oh, yes of course. I nearly forgot" the council president said with a chuckle. He then looked at Vlad _'now, Master Pravus'_ D'Ablo spoke into Vlad's thoughts. _'Look around us, what do you see?"_ D'Ablo asked, Vlad found the question odd to say the least. _'Bright lights, people, a few cars-'D'Ablo's_ chuckle broke his thoughts ' _Of course, I expected as much at this point of time.'_ His voice said, Vlad looked back at D'Ablo, he was grinning at the boy. _'What are you talking about?'_ Vlad asked, D'Ablo shook his head. Vlad watched the vampire walk up to him and place a hand on his shoulder. _'Close your eyes and focused on the energy around you.'_ He said, the vampire stared down at Vlad. ' _What?'_ D'Ablo's eyes flitted around the area. _'Just do it'_ D'Ablo said in his mind. Vlad sighed and closed his eyes again, he felt the power swirling inside him. When he opened his eyes again, the people around him looked different. D'Ablo watched as Vlad looked around, _'do you see it?'_ D'Ablo asked, Vlad couldn't speak. The whole experience was becoming too weird, it felt like he was looking through one of those infrared cameras. He could see what seemed to be the colorful silhouettes of the people walking by. But that wasn't all he could see. As his vision focused on one person standing across the street, he could make out veins and arteries. Vlad realized he was seeing the location of their blood. He focused his attention to a large shape on the left side of the man's chest, it must have been his heart. Vlad felt his fangs threaten to leave their place in his gums as he felt a bit of hunger. "Vladimir" Vlad blinked, it started to fade as D'Ablo gripped his shoulders. Vlad looked at him, his eyes still wide and confused. D'Ablo smiled as he straightened up and walked over to Jasik "looks like the boy has another gift." D'Ablo said aloud, his smile was wide and proud. Vlad felt himself shake a bit and he looked around "is-is this normal for vampires?" Vlad stuttered "no, not it's not." He said with a smile, "fan-fucking-astic" the Halfling grumbled "come on, we shouldn't linger here." D'Ablo said as he looked around. Vlad and Jasik nodded and followed after the council president.

D'Ablo looked around the passing people before Vlad noticed it. There was a slight glow in his eyes, it wasn't like his did when he touched a glyph or something like that. But it was still there, a reddish, glowing, line surrounded his irises. _'Is this part of my Pravus powers, or can other vampires do it too?'_ Vlad asked D'Ablo, the man looked down at the boy. _'No, there are several vampires who have this ability. But it is in fact rare, it also can't be learned.'_ Vlad looked around, 'what _do you mean?'_ Vlad asked, D'Ablo smirked _'I mean that you can't be taught it by anyone, it is a naturally occurring skill that has become rarer and rarer as years have passed.'_ Vlad looked at the vampire as they walked _'can you do this?'_ the council president nodded. _'What is it used for?'_ Vlad asked _'hunting in more rural areas, since we have moved into cities and large towns, it has become less useful and necessary for us.'_ Jasik walked up beside Vlad, his dark eyes met Vlad's _'he's not gonna say it, but I think he's happy you have it.'_ Vlad looked at D'Ablo as they walked. His cool grey eyes didn't look at him. Vlad sighed and closed his eyes, it only took a moment for him to run right into someone. He opened his eyes and looked around.

D'Ablo had stopped again. A smile spread across his face. _'Next step'_ D'Ablo said suddenly, Vlad followed his gaze to a young woman, and she was obviously drunk. That was combined with a pair of high heels, which no one should have been able to walk in while sober, caused her stumble about. _'Some of the easiest victims for a vampire of your skill level tend to be people like her."_ D'Ablo said in Vlad's mind. _'You also need to get close enough the smell them. If you smell any hint of garlic, well you know what to do.'_ Vlad looked at him, the vampire was staring at him. Vlad stared up into those steal grey eyes, _'I don't know about this'_ Vlad told him, he thought about this, maybe this was a bad idea. It had to be, there was no way Vlad could follow a woman and then attack her. D'Ablo suddenly put a hand on his shoulder, _'why are you so nervous?'_ he asked, _'this feels wrong'_ Vlad admitted, Jasik walked up beside him. "Vladimir, there are things much worse then you drinking her blood and leaving her in a hotel room for the night." Vlad looked at Jasik, "what?" D'Ablo shook his head, _'I made a few agreements ahead of time for tonight. I knew you wouldn't have enough experience to drink and then leave without being noticed.'_ Vlad watched D'Ablo walk past them and up to the woman. Jasik put a hand on Vlad's shoulder. Vlad shrugged him off and watched as D'Ablo put his arm around the woman and then look back at them. _'Come' he said and started to walk away._

Vlad followed D'Ablo and Jasik up to the hotel, it was nice, really nice. Vlad bit his lip as he looked around the lobby was pretty much empty aside from a few guests and the receptionists. Felt worry over take him, the Halfling watched D'Ablo hit the button. The woman still clung to him, giggling like mad. It wasn't long till the elevator came down and opened, Vlad felt relieved that it was empty. The four got in, the moment the door closed; Vlad saw D'Ablo touch a glyph. Just like in the office building the panel slid down and revealed more buttons. Vlad stared as the vampire touched the button, "what the hell is this?" Vlad asked, "really Vladimir? You didn't expect more hidden places in the city?" "Kind of, but in a hotel?" D'Ablo smirked and Jasik shook his head. The woman laid her head against the President's shoulder and drew imaginary patterns on his chest. Even to Vlad it was obvious this annoyed D'Ablo, "there are many buildings in this city and others that have places for vampires. Places were humans can't access or find without being led there. D'Ablo pointed at the normal list of buttons for the floors "between each normal floor, there is a floor made for vampires. It's easy to bring a meal here and eat without being seen." He said, the elevator stopped at their destination. "What if you kill their meal?" Vlad asked as he followed them "if they do, then the vampires who work with the hotel in secret will take care of everything." Vlad looked around the nice hallway they were walking down. He took notice of the doors they passed. Made of some sort of dark wood, he wasn't sure exactly what it was, but there was no doorknob. "Let me guess, for security reasons, you can only get into the room if you're a vampire." D'Ablo and Jasik both laughed, the woman drunkenly joined in as she stumbled along. D'Ablo looked back at the Halfling "you catch on fast." The council leader said with a smile. Vlad looked back at the walls, pictures and paintings hung on the walls. D'Ablo finally stopped, his hand pressed against the door and it clicked open. Vlad watched the vampires walk in, he wondered if he could still turn back. D'Ablo poked his head out and raised an eye brow, Vlad looked around, and weighing the few options he had before walking into the room.

Vlad walked in and closed the door behind him, D'Ablo had set the woman down on the bed. Vlad watched as she tried to beckon D'Ablo back over to her. Jasik watched as Vlad walked over to the older vampire "what now?" he asked, Vlad watched ask D'Ablo laid his cane down and smirked. "If you feel hungry and you feel like you want to, you can go ahead and feed." The older vampire said "And if I'm not hungry?" the half vampire asked. "Then I will merely explain and demonstrate." D'Ablo waved his hand nonchalantly. Vlad bit his bottom lip, feeling his fangs poking out a bit. Vlad walked closer to D'Ablo "if I do decide to feed, do I just bite her on her neck?" D'Ablo smiled "you could, but it would be safer to find another spot to bite." D'Ablo said and watched Vlad carefully, "so, biting the neck is a bad idea?" Jasik shook his head with a smirk "well, you could, it would just mean the risk of killing them would go up." He said, "Oh" Vlad kicked at the carpeted floor, D'Ablo stood and walked behind Vlad. The Council president removed one of his gloves and moved his shirt collar down, "considering you hate the idea of killing anyone, bite here and it shouldn't be a big problem." D'Ablo said, he suddenly moved out of the way as the woman stumbled over. Vlad let out a startled sound as she landed on his back. "Well aren't you a cute one." Vlad looked up at Jasik, who was obviously trying to hold back a laugh. "Make a new friend Master Pravus?" D'Ablo said with a chuckle, Vlad bit his lip again "funny, really funny" Vlad pushed back gently and turned. He could hear the blood rushing through the woman's body. Vlad felt his fangs push free, he let out a deep breath and slowly sank his fangs into the woman's shoulder.

 _ **AN: The hardest thing about this chapter was trying to find out how to make the idea of three vampires hunting for a meal a bit less creepy. But then I remembered that two of these adult vampire characters spent quite a bit of time stalking and hunting down a teenage boy. So there was no way to make it less creepy.**_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Vlad awoke with a startle, his eyes looked around the room. Were ever he was, it defiantly was not his room. The half vampire closed his eyes again at the pang of pain in his forehead. It hurt like hell, he wasn't even sure why. Vlad let his mind wonder as he laid there, what had happened last night? He sighed and looked around, this wasn't his room, it was his living room. Vlad's thoughts had been interrupted by someone "What you are saying does not make any sense. Vladimir couldn't have been in speaking. Stokerton last night, let alone anywhere near D'Ablo." Vlad heard Otis speaking in the kitchen, he waited a moment and then realized he must have been on the phone. "If D'Ablo took Vladimir, I wouldn't be standing here in the door way of the kitchen looking at him on the couch!" Vlad softly sat up and looked at his uncle. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, he felt a blanket slip off him as he got up. Otis looked at him quietly for a moment before going back to talking on the phone "yes, I think it's entirely possible for you to have made a mistake." The Frenchman said, Vladimir looked around. He forced himself not to think about the possibilities of last night. The way Otis was talking, last night must have happened and considering the fact he was on the couch only furthered that thought. Vlad stretched as Otis finally ended the call with a huff, then his blue eyes focused on him. Vlad opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by another voice. "Are you done, Otis?" Vlad tensed as he realized who was speaking. Though the man was out of sight, Vlad knew it was D'Ablo who was talking. Otis turned and walked into the kitchen "yes, yes" the blond haired vampire said. Vlad walked around the couch and started too walked towards the kitchen. "So, what do you want, D'Ablo?" a dark chuckle emitted from the older vampire at the table.

Vlad walked into the kitchen and looked at D'Ablo, the vampire was sitting at the table. Vlad noticed both of them had a cup of warmed blood in front of them. Vlad said nothing as he walked past them to the freezer and pulled out a bag of O+. He turned and looked at Otis "what's going on?" he asked "I came to pay your uncle a surprise visit." D'Ablo said "since he is technically on a form of probation." The head of the Stokerton council said. Vlad opened the bag and poured the blood into a cup before he placed it in the microwave. "And?" Vlad asked with a raised eye brow "nothing, just a little checkup, make sure he is abiding by the rules of our agreement." The timer on the microwave dinged, Vlad turned and pulled the cup from the microwave. He walked over and looked at him uncle as he sipped at the blood. "Vladimir, have you noticed anything going on." Vlad saw his uncle tense, "nope" Vlad said, he drank down the rest of his blood and walked back over. He placed the cup in the sink and then looked at the two vampires. D'Ablo shrugged and stood from the table, Vlad watched the vampire reach into his coat and pull out a small parchment envelop. "This is for you, by the way." He said before starting for the front door "oh" he stopped suddenly. "Vladimir, I left something for you in that secret box of yours." He said with a chuckle. The uncle and nephew watched the council president leave.

The moment the door closed, Otis ripped open the letter. Vlad turned to go up the stairs "stop, don't go up there, just in case." Vlad nodded "that idiot" Otis mumbled "what is this even supposed to mean?" Vlad leaned over his shoulder "sorry I missed Christmas?" Vlad asked, obviously confused. "What does that mean?" Otis was reading over the simple sentence over and over again as he tried to figure it out. Vlad turned and started to walk up the steps as Otis was reading. As Vlad walked up the steps he considered the night before. He remembered what D'Ablo had taught him, he remembered walking the streets of Stokerton with the two vampires. He also remember drinking the blood of the young woman D'Ablo had brought into the hotel, after that, everything was just a black hole. He couldn't help but to wonder what else happened, had he killed the woman? How had he even got home? Had D'Ablo done something him to mess with his memories? There were so many different questions still running through his head as he reached the top of the stairs and walked through the library.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The young Halfling walked into his room and looked around. His room was just how he left it the day before. Vlad felt relieved that things weren't out of place and strewn across the room. He walked over to his dresser and opened it, his chocolate eyes fell onto his secret box. He reached down and picked the box up, the tips of his fingers brushed the carved mark on the bottom. Vlad's mind flashed back to when he thought Otis had been a killer and murdered Mr. Craig and his parents. A smile crossed his face as he let out a sigh, "Vladimir?" he turned quickly to see Otis, "what did he leave?" he asked, Vlad knew he meant D'Ablo. "I don't know, I was just about to open it." Vlad said as he set the box on the top of his dresser. Otis stood there in silence as Vlad carefully opened the box. Both vampires sighed in relief when nothing exploded or jumped out of the box. Vlad looked down, on top of the little bit of money and small precious objects was a small box and a letter. Vlad saw the wax seal with Elysian markings on it and decided to leave that for later. He pretty much knew it had to be from D'Ablo, though he wasn't sure why he'd leave a letter. Instead he pulled out the small box and opened it. Vlad felt his breath hitch in his throat, "Vladimir, is that…" Otis trailed off, Vlad looked at the small black cylinder with a glyph on the bottom. It looked like the Lucis, Vlad looked over at Otis. The blue eyed vampire was silent, the young Halfling looked back at the cylinder in the box. Vlad gently picked it up, he remembered how D'Ablo had stolen the real one and replaced it with a fake. He started to ponder whether or not it was the real Lucis. He pointed it away from his uncle and brushed his thumb against the mark. It glowed, it actually fucking glowed! Vlad felt his heart race and his eyes widened "it must be the real one" Vlad said, Otis didn't even dare to walk closer to his nephew. Shakily, he removed his thumb and set the device on the dresser and looked at the letter. He would read it later of course. He didn't know what D'Ablo or who ever had written it, had put into the letter.

Now was a time to talk to Otis about something important, well two things important. "Hey, Otis can we talk?" Vlad asked, his Uncle looked like he had been dragged back into reality by Vlad question "of course Vladimir," the blond haired Vampire said, still partially out of it. The Halfling started for the door, "can we talk in your room?" Vlad was worried Otis would notice the letter if they talked in there, the vampire nodded and they left the room and walked back through the library. Vlad remembered his conversation with D'Ablo, not just the one he'd had the night before though. The one he'd had when the council president was face to face with him in the alleyway outside the Crypt. Vlad had to ask Otis to take him hunting, and as much as he didn't want to admit it. He had to drink from the source, he couldn't risk killing anyone else. He couldn't risk killing the people he loved, and that was the hardest part to admit to himself. He was a danger and he was fully capable of killing, even if he didn't want to. He also knew that D'Ablo had made a few good points on the situation with Nelly.

Otis closed the door behind them as Vlad threw himself into the chair by the desk. "What do you want to talk about Vladimir?" Vlad bit his lip, his mind was still foggy about last night. But he had to make the move, even if he hated it, D'Ablo had been right. No vampire could truly thrive from blood bags, not Vlad, not Otis, and not even his own father. Vlad felt his heart sink at that thought. His own father couldn't have possibly gone out feeding, could he? Vlad glanced at his uncle and found a bit of courage to speak. "I was wondering," the young vampire didn't know how to properly ask. He was terrified of all the questions Otis might have. Vlad worried about how he would react to learning his nephew had spent the night in Stokerton with two men that had previously attacked and tried to kill him. "Wondering what Vladimir?" he asked, Vlad could see the worry on the face of his uncle. Vlad swallowed and the boy took a in a deep breaths a few times before he spoke "could you teach me how to hunt?" Vlad asked, Otis stared down at him, the older vampire was completely silent. His eyes didn't even show any form of emotion, Vlad become worried. "Otis?" Vlad stood "are you serious Vladimir?" Otis asked, Vlad hesitantly nodded. Otis leaned against the wall, "alright" he said. Vlad saw his uncle breath in heavily, a small and warm smile brushed across his face. Was he proud of Vlad, happy he could eat from the source again, or was it a mix of both? Vlad couldn't take his words back now, though he didn't know how last night had ended, he knew he still needed to practice and learn. One small bite wouldn't keep him full forever and the blood bags and snack packs wouldn't always be enough. "If you are serious," Otis moved to walk around the room "we could go to Stokerton." The vampire said quietly, Vlad couldn't help smiling. The way his uncle was mumbling to himself about what they could do, was funny. Vlad walked over and placed his hand on the vampire's shoulder. Otis smiled at his nephew, but it was a worried smile. That's when Otis asked the question "what made you change your mind?" Vlad sighed, he knew there was no way in hell he could tell Otis about last night. He'd freak out, he'd tell Otis the truth, just not the whole entirety of the truth. He'd obviously leave out D'Ablo, Jasik, and the trip to Stokerton. Vlad took in another deep breath "Otis, I can't help but to worry that it could have been Henry, Nelly, Meredith, or even you." Vlad felt his heart beat faster, it felt like his heart was trying to remove it's self from his chest. He focused on his uncles cerulean eyes and spoke "I don't want to kill someone the next time I lose control." It wasn't the complete truth, but it would have to do for now. Otis gently smiled "I understand Vladimir" Vlad smiled at his Uncle and then opened his mouth to speak again, but before Vlad could bring up his next question, Nelly called from down the steps. Otis turned "oh, it looks like Nelly is back from the store, we should go down and help her." Otis said, Vlad nodded as his uncle made his way to the door. "And later you can explain why you were sleeping on the couch last night." Otis said, Vlad stopped a few steps from the door. Well, this sucked. He was going to have to now find a way to logically explain away why he was on the couch, without revealing he had snuck out and then been (technically kidnapped) taken to Stokerton by D'Ablo and Jasik. "Right, of course uncle" the Halfling mumbled and followed after the blond haired vampire as they walked down stairs.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Vlad sat there on the couch, the rest of his day had been relatively uneventful. Calming even, he didn't have the hunger gnawing at him and he'd been able to talk to Otis about at least one thing today. He sighed as he turned on the tv, Otis or Nelly must have left it on the News station when they went to bed. Vlad was about to start flipping through the channels when the mundane reports suddenly changed to a bird's eye view of a forest between Stokerton and Bathery. Vlad knew what it was, he knew what was going on in that scene. His mind flashed back to when Mr. Craig had vanished and then reappeared in the forest. D'Ablo had killed him, Vlad remembered that. Vlad felt his hand tense up around the remote. His body trembled with a mix of emotions as he turned the sound up a bit more.

They had found Snow, well her body at least. D'Ablo had hidden it well, too well. Vlad felt sick to his stomach knowing that this was how it ended for her. He felt sick knowing he'd been the reason she died long before it was really her time. Vlad paid no more attention to the tv as he pulled his knees to his chest "Vladimir?" the Halfling didn't look up, he just couldn't face Otis or Nelly. All the guilt he had been able to mostly bury had come rising back to the surface. "I'm going to go lay down" he said, his eyes just barely flitted over to his aunt. Her face was a mask of concern and worry. "Vladimir" Otis spoke, Vlad looked at him. The vampire started to walk over, Vlad shook his head. "I need to be alone" Vlad said quietly, the boy walked up the steps alone.

Vlad laid there for who knows how long, he had buried his head in the pillow and cried. It wasn't till a knock at the window, that he lifted his head. He took note of the darkened sky and realized that night had fallen, had it really been hours? He heard a taping again, his eyes looked up at the window again. There was a man, a man dressed in black. Vlad sighed and got up, the young Halfling gently whipped his wet face before walking over. A pair of slate grey eyes locked onto him, D'Ablo. Vlad sighed again and then opened the window just enough to talk to him "you must be crazy" Vlad said, the vampire smirked "what gave that away?" Vlad stepped back as a pair of gloved hands reached under the opening and lifted the window. Vlad watched as the vampire slid effortlessly in through the window, he then spoke "should we start with the fact you just climbed in through my window at god know what time, with both my aunt and uncle downstairs?" D'Ablo chuckled "I would expect you to start with a reminder of how I tried killing you a few times." The vampire said and sat down in the desk chair, Vlad watched D'Ablo's grey eyes look over to the surface of the plain wooden desk. That's when Vlad noticed the bag of blood, an empty clean cup, and a plate of Nelly's cookies. Vlad couldn't help but to let himself smile. Nelly must have snuck in at some point and left them there. "How do you feel?" the older vampire asked as Vlad walked over, the boy took a cookie off the plate and bit into it. After swallowing, he spoke "like hell." D'Ablo shook his head at the young vampire's answer "it seems obvious you saw the news report, I'm guessing it unearthed those feelings again?" Vlad said nothing, he didn't even nod. D'Ablo reached over and picked up one of the baked sweets in his gloved hand. The vampire turned it over a few times, as if inspecting it for any trace of poison or tampering. Vlad watched as the elder vampire took a large bite from it. Vlad was still silent as he stared, his emotions momentarily forgotten by the scene in front of him. This had become too surreal. D'Ablo, a vampire that had tried to kill him, was sitting in his room eating a cookie. "This is just so fucked up." Vlad said, the council president lifted an eyebrow "whatever you do mean, master Pravus?" Vlad pointed at him "in what universe does this scene make since?" D'Ablo took another bite of the cookie, "you are sitting in my room eating a cookie and talking to me like we're old friends or something. And then there is the fact you gave back the Lucis." Vlad said and leaned against the desk. He reached down and grabbed the bag of blood and a pair us scissors. The Halfling cut the corner off the blood bag and poured about half into the cup, D'Ablo raised an eye brow as he pushed the glass cup to him. "What, just because you tried to kill me a couple times doesn't mean I can't be a slight bit courteous to a guest." Vlad said, the boy then downed the rest of the blood in the bag and set it down beside the plate. D'Ablo picked up the cup and did the same.

Vlad reached for another cookie, "so, why give me back the Lucis? You know, the one weapon that I used to put a pretty sizable hole through you." Vlad pointed at the president with his cookie. D'Ablo shook his head with a smile "did you not read the letter?" he asked "I never got around to it, Otis followed me up here and I didn't know what you had written in it." Vlad said, "well, I might as well tell you, since I am sitting right here." D'Ablo said, "before I came looking for you last night, I wrote you a letter. You could have read it in front of Otis. I didn't put anything about last night in it, I pretty much just detailed why I had returned the Lucis and to be on the lookout for Ignatius." "Who?" Vlad shot him a questioning glance "an assassin sent by the Stokerton council." D'Ablo said "oh, wonderful, you're still trying to kill me. Has anyone remarked on what an ass you can be?" D'Ablo shook his head with a smile, "might I inform you, Elysia is technically a democracy. I may be president of the council but they can, and they did, over rule me. I considered it bad to send Ignatius after you." The older vampire said, Vlad grabbed the last cookie off the plate and stuck it in his mouth. D'Ablo continued talking "I honestly thought it was a waste of time, money, and resources. That and Ignatius's limitations…" Vlad swallowed "limitations?" D'Ablo drank the last of the blood "for all his power and ability, he has a major weakness. One that is the polar opposite of your supposed ability." Vlad tilted his head to the side "what?" D'Ablo chuckled, "Master Pravus, I mean that he is incredibly vulnerable to sunlight." D'Ablo said, Vlad scoffed "is that all vampires?" D'Ablo stood "yes, yes it is." He said "but Ignatius is different, even the sunlight that is reflected by the moon can be fatal to him." D'Ablo said as he walked around Vlad's room. It was simple enough, fairly clean and organized. This did surprise the older vampire, from just looking and talking to the boy he would have expected a chaotic mess. "So if he can't even stand that, how does he do his job as an assassin or feed?" D'Ablo smiled "Vladimir, it doesn't take an astrologist to know that the moon is not always out in plain view. Sometimes the clouds hide it or it's in darkness due to the time of the month." Vlad nodded, what D'Ablo said was the truth and he mentally smacked himself for forgetting the obvious. He then spoke the next question on his mind "so why is he hunting me?"

D'Ablo leaned against the door "Honor, my dear master." "Honor?" Vlad furrowed his brow in curiosity. "Otis tells the story better than I could, so you'll have to ask him." The elder vampire said and then continued "but, to help you understand a tad bit more, I will tell you this." Vlad couldn't help the feeling he had to smack the smile off D'Ablo's lips. "Your father, Otis, and Ignatius were all very, very close at one point in time. Your father's actions have caused him quite a bit of dishonor amongst the community." D'Ablo explained, "So in killing me, he hopes to get some sort of honor back?" "In a way yes." D'Ablo said, "I've got a couple more questions, if you don't mind." D'Ablo nodded as if telling Vlad to go ahead. "Last night, what exactly happened?" Vlad asked, "How much do you remember?" Vlad stood there for a moment and thought before he spoke "everything up till I bit the young woman in the hotel." He answered, D'Ablo nodded. A smile still on his lips, quite frankly it pissed Vlad off with the amount of smiling this Sociopathic killer vampire could do in the matter of half an hour or so. "Let's see, everything was fine after you bit the girl. Jasik and I fed from her and the left her in the room. We had just left the hotel and were discussing how much time was left before we had to leave to make sure you got home, when you fainted." Vlad stared at him with a shocked expression "I fainted?" D'Ablo nodded "out like a light." D'Ablo said, a slight chuckle in his voice. "Do you know why?" "I suspect it might have been due to the alcohol from the girl's blood." D'Ablo said and looked around the room "I thought vampires couldn't get drunk or high." The young vampire said "we can, it's a lot harder and takes a lot more to be affected by the substances." D'Ablo looked up and down at Vlad "but you on the other hand, are half human." He said "so it might be easier for me to get drunk?" D'Ablo nodded, his eyes flashed to the door. "After that, Jasik carried you to the car and we drove you home. I left the Lucis and letter in your little box over there." He pointed at the dresser. "So, nothing else?" Vlad asked "no" Vlad chewed on his lip "I guess I didn't kill the woman." D'Ablo sighed with a frown "No she was very much alive, unconscious but alive, when we left." Vlad let out a relieved sigh and looked out the window.

D'Ablo walked over to him "anymore questions?" Vlad was silent for a few seconds as he racked his brain. After finding nothing, the boy shook his head "not that I can think of." Vlad said, D'Ablo leaned down "now, I need to talk to you, Young Master." He said with a smile. Those slate grey eyes met Vlad's dark brown ones. He was grinning warmly "about what?" "About you" Vlad was confused "me?" D'Ablo nodded "Last night was..." the vampire paused, trying to find the proper words before speaking. "A test run, so to say." Vlad backed away, he felt his leg brush the corner of the desk. "Test run?" Vlad bit his lip harder, he felt his fangs pricked the skin and a bit of blood trickled out "last night, I got a glimpse of the possibilities you hold. Whether you want to admit it or not, you are the Pravus. You have abilities no other vampires could even hope to have." D'Ablo said "I know I'm The Pravus" Vlad said softly, "it's gotten a bit more obvious since Joss staked me through the heart." Vlad watched the older vampire move to place a hand on his shoulder. "Yes, I must apologize for that, it was the only way to make sure you had the immortality prophesied in the legend." D'Ablo said, Vlad rolled his eyes. "Right..." D'Ablo smiled at Vlad "as I was saying, I want to train you." Vlad stared "what?" D'Ablo Chuckled "Master Pravus, I know you heard me." D'Ablo took the boys chin into his hand and made Vlad look at him "I know Otis has been teaching you, but he's teaching you like a normal vampire." D'Ablo said "what's wrong with that?" Vlad asked "you are no normal vampire, you should be trained to understand the prophecy, your destiny." The older vampire said, Vlad stared "there are powers only the Pravus is expected to have, powers you should be able to have and use." D'Ablo said. Vlad opened his mouth to speak, but D'Ablo immediately stiffened. It looked like he was listening for something. Vlad thought that if the vampire had ears like a cat, they would be twitching and swiveling around.

The vampire moved away from the boy and back to Vlad's dresser. The Halfling watched as D'Ablo opened it and moved the stuff away. Vlad's eyes landed on the box as D'Ablo pulled it out the letter. "What are you doing?" Vlad asked "your uncle has sensed my presence." The council president said "he has?" D'Ablo nodded "he's on the way up the stairs right now, I think it would be best for me to leave for now." He said, Vlad didn't argue. He watched D'Ablo walk back to the window. Vlad followed him over, D'Ablo handed Vlad the letter "consider what I talked about, I want to see you succeed. You have promise and you shouldn't let that slip away from you, Master Pravus." Vlad opened his mouth to speak, but the council president had slipped out the window and vanished into the night.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Vlad was leaning and trying to look out the window when his door quickly opened. "Vladimir?!" Vlad was startled and tried to back into the room. His head hit the bottom of the window with a loud bang. "Fuck!" Vlad let the curse word slip as he rubbed his head in pain. He knew he'd pay for using the word latter, but in the situation it seemed necessary. Vlad's head throbbed a bit more as he rubbed the spot. "Are you alright?" Otis rushed over and grabbed Vlad's shoulder. The Halfling looked up at his uncle. Okay? He was not okay, he'd just hit his head on the window ceil. Otis's eyes stared down, worry filled, his face showed the obvious marks of worry. "Yes, I constantly hit my head and it feels wonderful" Vlad said with sarcasm, Otis looked down at him, his blue eyes full of concern. Though Vlad saw a hint of a smile on his face. Otis then spoke up "Vladimir, I sensed another vampire near here, I was worried it might have been D'Ablo." Vlad looked down at the letter, Otis's fear had been partially right. It was D'ablo but it didn't seem like he was here to cause a problem. Vlad's mind still reeled from the fact that he had just had a friendly conversation with a vampire that had stalked and tried to kill him. Honestly Otis had the right to worry about what he sensed. Vlad then held up the letter for Otis to see, "if it was, he left this." Vlad said, Otis stared at the sealed envelope. "A letter?" Otis asked "I think" Vlad said as he opened the letter. "I think whoever it was left it tapped to my window, that's why I was looking out." Vlad lied, though he had been looking for D'Ablo, the letter had been in the box next to the box with the Lucis. As Vlad pulled the paper out and unfolded it, he saw neat hand writing. Sort of like what the teachers used to make him practice as a kid. You know, that weird cursive writing that no one really uses anymore, but the teachers still tried to make you write with it. He let his eyes then scan the paper, just to be sure. If there was anything that mentioned anything other than Ignatius or the Lucis, Vlad was going to omit it and hopefully Otis wouldn't try and take it to read on his own. Finding nothing, Vlad read the letter aloud.

 _Dear Vladimir Tod,_

 _Given that you are reading this, it means you have found the Lucis in your room. I can assure you that it is the real Lucis, call it a favor. You must be wondering why I would be 'stupid enough to give you back a weapon that prevents the council from coming after you. Well, let me be the one to inform you that I'm giving it back for a bit of entertainment. You see the council has sent Ignatius, an assassin, after you. I honestly don't believe that it would be worth much for him to kill you. It's more for Ignatius to get his honor back, which I doubt he will even if he kills you. Keep a look out for a crazed vampire with a sword, best to also follow your uncle's previous instructions of keeping the Lucis on you at all times of the day._

 _Best wishes,_

 _D'Ablo 3_

Vlad stared down at the letter after reading it, he noted a little heart drawn next to D'Ablo's name. Vlad could only think about how much of a freak D'Ablo could be. That was until he heard a voice "Ignatius…" Otis whispered "who is Ignatius?" Vlad asked, Otis bit his lip and looked around. Vlad watched his uncle walked over and closed the door to Vlad's room. "Ignatius, is your Grandfather." Otis said "what?" Vlad stared "he is the vampire who turned me and your father." The blond haired vampire said, his eyes darted away. "Wonderful, my own grandfather is gonna try and kill me." Vlad said, Otis watched him slump "any other pissed of relatives I don't know about?" Vlad asked "cousins, aunts, other uncles, possible siblings that my father turned? Do they want to kill me too?" Vlad asked, Otis gave him a small smile, "I do know of a few Otis turned. I'm not sure if they even know you exist. Ignatius also turned many others, again not sure if they know you exist or how many of them are alive." Otis said "let's keep that a constant till I know they won't kill me just because I exist." Vlad set the letter down on his desk. Otis smiled and watched him with a silent smirk. "Hey, that makes me wonder though." Vlad started "have I ever turned a human into a vampire?" Vlad nodded, the older vampire turned from his nephew. A sad look on his face "Vladimir that is a story for another day. It's not something I like talking about that much." He said, Vlad frowned. He considered trying to press Otis for more information, but decided not to.

Otis reached over and placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder "are you going to be alright?" he asked "I think so, it's just…" Vlad sighed "it's gonna take some time to get over this." Otis hugged him, "I know Vladimir, and let me tell you, I've been through this before." Vlad looked up at his uncle, "this will all pass, I promise." Otis whispered, Vlad looked at his uncle. A smile returned to the teen's lips as he wrapped his uncle in a hug. Vlad closed his eyes, that's when something flashed across his vision. He saw Otis in front of his window, closing it. The faint sound of shattering glass echoed in his mind as something crashed through the window and caused Otis to stumble. Vlad saw the blood dripping onto the floor.

Vlad opened his eyes, attempting to take in a deep breath. Otis had let him go and started for the window, "Vladimir, it is freezing out there. Why is this window open?" he asked, Vlad felt his heart stop. He saw Otis reach up for the window "I wanted to let some fresh air in, I didn't really mind the cold." Vlad said swiftly, he walked over to his uncle. "Well, it is late, so we should close it." Vlad watched Otis tug the window down. The moment Vlad heard the window click, he rushed over and tackled Otis to the floor, just as something crashed through the window. Otis let out a surprised yelp as his back hit the floor, large chunks of glass hit the floor. Vlad looked up, "Vladimir…" "I'm so sorry" the teen said swiftly "i- well- I saw…" Vlad couldn't form the right words to explain what happened. He'd seen the even before it even happened. He couldn't explain it to himself, Vlad pushed himself up and looked around. Stuck in the wall across from the window, was a sword. Vlad stared at the sword, Otis was already at his feet looking at the window. "Did I get you, are you dead?" a voice came through the shattered window. Vlad walked over, on the roof across from them was a vampire. "No!" Otis shouted, Vlad could heart barking dogs in the distance. Tonight was just getting to weird and scary, maybe he should consider some therapy. Were there even vampire therapists? Vlad looked at Otis, "is that him?" Vlad asked "I think so" the vampire on the roof was staring "damn it!" Vlad watched Ignatius turn and jump off the roof. "sh-should we call the police?" "No, no I'll get the window fixed and do something with the sword." Otis said calmly, Vlad sighed "ok" the teen then stretched "I'm not sleeping in here tonight." Vlad said "want me to sleep with nelly so you can take the guest bedroom?" Otis smiled, it took a moment and then he realized it. "Oh-OH!" Vlad started to back away, "OTIS!" Vlad shouted, a grin spread across the face of his uncle. That grin swiftly faded when the door opened at the speed of light. "Vladimir? Otis?" both vampires turned to view a panic stricken Nelly. "What happened?" she walked in and turned her head to see the sword and then the broken window. Vlad looked at his uncle, "what happened in here? What happened to the window?" the eyes of the vampires met once again, then looked at nelly "Vampire stuff" they answered at the same time.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

D'Ablo leaned back in his chair, the letter before him still open. Though he had a lamp on next to him, a small red candle burned beside him, it's soft, melted wax ready for its one and only specific use. D'Ablo found himself twirling the pen between his fingers. He scanned his hand writing once more, he made sure there were no mistakes, that there was no issue for the recipient to read it, and that the message was clear. The Vampire found it as perfect as it could get, gently he picked it up and enclosed it in a parchment envelope. His hand reached over and brushed the tips of his fingers against the candle. "D'Ablo?" the vampire placed the letter under the near-by keyboard as the door to his office opened. "What is it Ignatius?" the council president asked, "I need a new sword" D'Ablo lifted an eyebrow. "Why?" the vampire asked. The much, much older vampire laughed "I threw mine through a window." D'Ablo held back a chuckle "where?" he asked, a smile quickly spreading across his face. He nearly lost it though at Ignatius's answer, "at the house of the Tod boy." D'Ablo shook his head, the council president had lost track of how many swords this assassin had lost during his assignments. It was honestly a head ache each time he found out Ignatius had, once again, been careless. The slate colored eyes looked up at the vampire. "Ignatius, how many times does this make?" he asked. The assassin paused, D'Ablo wagered a guess he was trying to count the time's he'd lost his sword by throwing it at his target. D'Ablo and many others had reminded him that it would be far easier to give him a projectile weapon alongside the swords, but he had refused. And it wasn't like they could make him use it, even if they gave one to him that was more effective than his sword. "I have lost count" the older vampire's raspy voice said, he sounded amused at the thought. "Honestly Ignatius," D'Ablo said as he reached down to a drawer on the side of his desk. "You either go too far and break your sword or you completely lose it in situations like this one." The President said. The glyph on the drawer glowed allowed D'Ablo to open it. He had marked the drawer around the beginning of his presidency. Unlike other marked glyphs in the council building and surrounding city, only he could open this one. It was his Elysian name that marked the face of the wood.

D'Ablo reached down and pulled a ring of keys from the drawer, most of them looked ancient and worn. D'Ablo stood from his chair and walked over to one of the cabinets. It wasn't one of the older more ancient keys he selected though. It was one of the newer ones. One that had to have been made in the last decade or so. He reached forward and placed the key in the lock, it let out a soft click as the lock turned. D'Ablo opened the doors and looked inside. Placed with in this cabinet, were swords. All of which, looked remarkably similar to each other. Ignatius's tendency to use his swords as projectiles had forced the council to hire a sword smith. That sword smith had been tasked with making quite a few swords, all of which were a copy of the one Ignatius had lost almost two decades before hand. D'Ablo didn't take the time to really look or select one, he just reached in and pulled one of the many identical blades out.

He turned to face Ignatius, who was looking at his desk with a strange intrigue. "What is it, Ignatius?" the council president asked, "writing a letter?" he asked, D'Ablo showed no emotions. "why do you ask?" D'Ablo walked over to the assassin, who grinned "you don't light that candle unless you plan to write a letter of importance." Ignatius said, D'Ablo kept his face expressionless. His grey eyes met those of Ignatius, who stared at him intently. D'Ablo could feel the vampire trying to riffle trough his thoughts. At this, D'Ablo clamped down on his thoughts and gave the vampire a warning glance. One that screamed 'try that again and you'll regret it', Ignatius shrugged and reached over to take the sword. D'Ablo let him take it, Ignatius looked over it and inspected every inch of it carefully. He then swung it out at D'Ablo's head, just stopping short of the president's neck. D'Ablo didn't so much as blink or swallow, Ignatius had done this every time he'd been given a new blade. He'd never dare to attack the president of the Stokerton council, doing so would mean certain death. But D'Ablo still feared the assassin, just slightly though. He'd lived almost as long as Vikas had. But unlike Vikas, Ignatius had not gained wisdom and a certain calmness or self-control that the Russian vampire had. He was dangerous, unpredictable, and beyond sadistic. The president couldn't help but to ponder how this one vampire could continue moving freely. Even if he was a decent enough bounty hunter and assassin, he could still be a risk in the long run. The president's eyes met Ignatius's, then D'Ablo stepped back and turned "do me a favor, please do not throw your swords at the boy." He said and walked over to the cabinet and locked it tightly before returning to his desk. The ring of keys clinked as he placed them back in the drawer. D'Ablo closed said drawer and turned his gaze back to Ignatius "I grow tired of having to replace your sword so often when it comes to cases like this." D'Ablo said "tomorrow night is a rainstorm, I should be able to get the boy then." Ignatius said with a dangerous grin. D'Ablo didn't show it, but he grimaced at the thought. Something not even he had truly done in a long, long time.

D'Ablo walked back over to his desk and sat down, "can I ask you something Ignatius?" the question slipped from the vampire's lips before he got a chance to rethink it. "Want me to do something specific to the boy?" D'Ablo felt a few of his muscles tense "no, no I don't." he said, forcing his face to remain calm. "Then what is it?" D'Ablo mulled over the thoughts in his head, he then opened his mouth "let's say, in a hypothetical situation, you kill Vladimir Tod. Now, what do you think will happen when those in Elysia find out what you've done?" Ignatius smiled "what does that matter to me? I'll have regained the honor that my foolish son took away when he married a human woman." "Or dishonored your name for the rest of time." D'Ablo said, his voice strict and strong. "Thomas was a much beloved and respected vampire, how much are you willing to bet that his sired children and close friends won't come after your head for killing the boy?" the assassin narrowed his eyes at D'Ablo "why do you ask?" the president just smiled "no reason, just curiosity" he answered, but that wasn't true, it was to also remind the other vampire that the council itself had taken a rather foolish risk to attempt to kill the boy. Thomas was truly beloved and respected by most of Elysia, and even D'Ablo had respected him and considered him more than just his vice president. D'Ablo found himself staring at the flame of the candle dancing in front of him and remembering the bed room in the house back in Bathery. His eyes then lifted to face Ignatius, who had turned to leave. D'Ablo didn't stop him, instead he turned to look out the window onto the city bellow.

D'Ablo had decided to wait a few minutes after Ignatius's departure to pull the letter out from under the keyboard. He didn't want to run the risk of it being seen, not by anyone other than who it was meant for. His eyes flitted to the candle and then back at the unsealed envelope. He knew that if the prophecy was true. And the boy was indeed the long awaited Pravus, it could become a war zone with in the vampire community. With over a third of vampire kind believing in the prophecy, there could be a mess. He knew that he'd have a lot to clear up in the end, he'd taken it upon himself to hide the truth. Even from other followers of the legends. He wanted to make sure, he wanted to see if the boy could perform feats beyond a normal vampire. Powers only the Pravus could possess and use, his sensory abilities were not a defendant proof, neither was the wooden stake through his chest. The slayer could have easily missed his heart and just nicked a lung. D'Ablo's hand tensed and clinched into a fist, his mind swirled before settling on the decision. His fingers grasped the burning candle and let the crimson wax fall onto the flap of the envelope into a small red puddle. He then reached for the stamp, this was not official for the Elysian Council itself, but for him. Just like on the front of the drawer, this stamp was his mark, something specific to him. With little to no resistant or fear, he took it into his hand and pressed it into the cooling wax. D'Ablo quickly realized that if he continued, he would set a course to set not only Vampiric society, but Human society on its head for decades or even centuries to come.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Hey Vlad" the young Halfling let out a groan, he'd been doing everything possible to avoid Eddie today. But unfortunately, he was waiting for Meredith to walk her home as promised. And the little weasel had taken this chance to pester Vlad. The vampire turned his head, ready to tell Eddie to buzz off. "Feed from an unsuspecting maiden on Friday night?" Vlad glared at Eddie, partially with anger and mostly with confusion. "What?" Vlad asked "well, a good portion of Bathery reported a woman screaming. I thought maybe you had gone out for a late night meal, perhaps a young maiden?" Vlad was about to say something rather obscene and uncalled for, when a chuckle drew his attention. Vlad turned and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the familiar face behind him. "Jasik?" Vlad spoke his name out loud "good afternoon Vladimir" he said "I have something I want you to give to your uncle when you get home." Vlad watched as the vampire reached into his blue overcoat and pulled out a small parchment envelope. Vlad stared at the wax seal, it was just like the one from the other night. He looked up at Jasik and took the letter _'it's for you actually'_ Vlad's eyes darted from the letter to the vampire, who just smiled. "Give Otis my warm regards, and tell him I'm sorry for not being able to give this to him personally." Jasik said, _'D'Ablo sent you, didn't he?'_ the vampire just smiled and turned to walk away, _'have a good afternoon, maiden.'_ The smile on Jasik's face widened and Vlad could tell he was holding back laughter. He couldn't help but wonder if, once Jasik was in the solitude of his car, that the vampire with explode with laughter. Honestly, Vlad just hopped he'd flat out explode.

The teen then looked down at the letter, and noticed Eddie looking over his shoulder at the sealed envelope. Vlad stuffed the letter into his pocket before Eddie could try to take a picture of it. "Who seals their letters with wax?" the little weasel asked, Vlad watched as Eddie adjusted his glasses "plenty of people." He said and then looked around "some people are still old fashioned, Mr. Otis still wears a top hat." Vlad said, "Eddie was about to say something when Meredith rushed over to Vlad. "Sorry I made you wait Vlad." Vlad smiled at Meredith, while the time with Eddie had been a pain in the ass, he wasn't really bothered with having to wait for her. "It's alright, I don't mind waiting. After all, I promised you I'd walk you home." Vlad said with a smile. "Aw, you're so sweet." The pink clad girl pinched his cheek softly, Vlad grinned down at her. "Come on, let's go" she said and grabbed the young Halflings hand.

* * *

As they walked down the side walk, Meredith spoke up "so, what were you and Eddie talking about" she asked "same old, same old." Vlad waved his free hand around "he's still on this whole vampire thing." "Really?" Vlad nodded "yep, the little basterd's convinced I'm a vampire." Meredith smiled "any reason why?" she asked, "Why do you think?" Vlad laughed "pale skin, black clothing, and an allergy to garlic." Vlad said with a grin, "not to mention, you always bring your lunch." She said with a laugh. "Hey, that fits in with the garlic issue. Nelly's nervous I might accidently eat something with garlic in it and get sick." Vlad said, Meredith nudged the pale boy playfully. "Well, I think the case is closed" she said with a grin "you're a vampire hiding amongst humans." Vlad laughed "you'd have a point, if not for one thing." Vlad said, "Huh?" Vlad gave her a toothy grin "Vampires can't enter churches without bursting into flames, not the mention the sunlight being deadly." Vlad pointed at the large flaming ball in the sky. "That's right, Bathery High was a church once, but I don't know if that still counts." She said "and as for the sun…" Vlad smiled as she seemed to be considering her point. "You could be wearing sunscreen." She said, Vlad laughed "alright, you got me, I'm a vampire." Vlad laughed out.

The young Halfling turned his head as they passed his house, Vlad saw Otis walking onto the porch. A smile crossed his lips as he saw nelly greet him with a hug. Vlad stopped, Meredith stood still alongside him "what is it Vlad?" she asked, Vlad used his head to motion over to his home. Meredith looked over, Otis and Nelly hadn't even noticed their existence. _'Hey, Otis'_ the blond haired vampire turned and looked at him, a bashful smile across his lips. _'Oh, good afternoon Vladimir.'_ With a grin, he sent Otis another message _'I'm walking Meredith home, I'll be home in about ten or fifteen minutes. Gotta go give Henry some homework, he missed school today.'_ Vlad saw Otis give a slight nod before going into the house. Vlad then turned with Meredith and they continued their walk to Meredith's home.

* * *

D'Ablo stood there reshelving books in the archive, footsteps sounded off in the distant side of the archive. Near the door that led inside "Did you give the boy the letter?" D'Ablo asked, he didn't have to look to know who it was. When no response came, he asked again "did you deliver the letter?" D'Ablo swiftly turned his head to face the vampire, who was smiling. Jasik was smiling like a damned mad man, "JASIK!" D'Ablo shouted this time, there was enough force from the president's voice to send dust and small pebbled falling from the ceiling. Jasik snickered and then regained his composure enough to speak "yes, yes I gave the boy the letter on his way out from the school building." Jasik said with a grin "good, now, was that so hard to tell me?" D'Ablo turned his attention back to the books. Jasik let out another snicker "why are you laughing?" the council president asked "I'll explain later, but if you need something else delivered to the boy. Please send me." Jasik said, D'Ablo shot the vampire a questioning glance. The thief patted D'Ablo on the shoulder and started for the door, "I'll tell you later, I know how finicky you get about getting this place organized. I don't want to distract you." He said and the door closed behind him.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Vlad rounded the side of the high school, his eyes scanning the town around him for any sign of life. The streets were entirely empty, he didn't even see Eddie Poe trying to stalk him through the shadows. Vlad let out a sigh of relief and then floated up to the ledge of the belfry. Vlad stepped through the window and looked around, the room was lit up by a few candles. Vlad's eyes darted to his father's favorite chair, which was currently occupied. "Good evening, Master Pravus." D'Ablo said, Vlad walked over and saw D'Ablo holding his father's journal. It was open to one of the earlier entries "my dad's journal…" D'Ablo looked back at the small book "your father wrote with a lot of fondness for you and your mother, Master Pravus." D'Ablo said softly. "I don't think I've ever seen such devotion from a vampire to their young." D'Ablo said, Vlad noticed something in his eyes, was that sorrow? Vlad looked at Jasik, then back at D'Ablo. This was just too fucked up, D'Ablo should be trying to kill him. Or threaten him, or both! D'Ablo looked up from the pages of the journal "something wrong?" he asked "yes" Vlad narrowed his eyes, the vampire in his father's chair gave him a questioning glance. "You're not trying to kill me, or threaten me, or trick me, or lie to me, or do something terrible to me or one of my loved ones." Vlad said "you've even been weirdly absent from my life over the past week. I mean seriously, normally I'd turn my head and see you stalking me." Vlad said, the president of the council tilted his head to the side "and that's wrong?" he asked. "No, no it's not…" Vlad bit his lip "but after two years of you hunting me and trying to kill me, it's weird." Vlad said, D'Ablo shook his head, with a grin.

"Speaking of the past week, I heard something from one of my little birds." D'Ablo placed the journal on the desk next to him "you went with Otis to hunt, is that right?" Vlad nodded "yeah" he had gone with Otis to practice and learn, it hadn't been that different from what he did with D'Ablo and Jasik. The major difference being that he didn't pass out after feeding, which was good. Really good, "it went good, it was actually a lot like what we did." Vlad said "really?" Vlad gave him a nod "though Otis didn't take me to the same area you did or pick out a drunk woman." Vlad pointed out "really?" he asked with a guilty grin, "Well, all vampires hunt differently. I prefer easy targets typically, and even if they remember what happened it isn't a big deal. That is, if they survive…" D'Ablo said, a proud smile on his face. Just like Otis, he was proud of their vampire heritage. Proud of being an Elysian and something more than human. Vlad looked at him, the question spilling out before he could reconsider it "Do you normally kill your victims?" D'Ablo gave him a strange look "most Vampires do, it's normal." D'Ablo said "I don't see how that could be normal." Vlad pointed out "Master Pravus, you area wolf that was raised amongst sheep, of course it's harder to understand the truth of the matter." D'Ablo said, Vlad didn't exactly like that idea of the world.

Vlad folded his arms across his chest, he considered just turning back and leaving. Though he'd enjoyed hunting with Otis and he felt more satisfied than he did before, part of him cringed at the idea of eating people. Vlad looked back towards the edge of the belfry, as if sensing his feelings to leave, D'Ablo spoke up "so, have you come to accept my offer?" Vlad blinked and his eyes focused back on the dark haired vampire. "The offer, right." Vlad said, he leaned against the wall and looked around. The boy chewed his bottom lip and looked at D'Ablo "I guess so, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea." Vlad said, the vampire smirked "maybe?" Jasik asked, the vampire boy looked back and forth between the two. "Yeah, I still don't trust you one bit." Vlad said, D'Ablo looked at him, "really? I thought that night in Stokerton would prove that I wasn't going to hurt you?" The council president asked, Vlad sighed. "One night does not change the fact that you tried to kill me twice." Vlad reminded him, D'Ablo walked over. "Don't worry" D'Ablo patted Vlad on the head "I promise that I will not do the following: kill, kidnap, torcher, threaten your family, threaten you, or do horrible unspeakable things to you." D'Ablo said, Vlad listened carefully. He then looked at Jasik "and I promise the same thing, Vladimir." Jasik said and stood. The vampires gave Vlad a look, one that said 'get your ass moving before you're thrown over D'Ablo's shoulder and kidnapped again.' Vlad watched the two vampires walk over to the ledge of the bell tower, his eyes locked on D'Ablo. Who smiled, held out his hand, and waited.

* * *

A loud thud echoed through the clearing, "Master Pravus" D'Ablo began as he looked down at a stop watch. "That is the 24th time you have hit a tree in the past hour." The president's voice was gruff and strict. "Well that wouldn't happen don't understand why you've had me running around in circles." Vlad shouted back at him as he rubbed his bloodied nose, the boy was laying on the ground. His head ached and his nose burned as it started to heal. His eyes darted over to the vampire. D'Ablo walked over and knelt down "here" the vampire held out a black handkerchief. The Halfling took it from him and started to clean his face. "Thanks" he said, D'Ablo just nodded. He straightened after Vlad gave him the bloodied piece of cloth. "So, why have me run around the clearing like that?" D'Ablo smiled "it was a warm up, I wanted to see if you can reach a more Vampiric speed." He said "and?" D'Ablo smirked "it was decent, but you have quite a bit more to go till you can move with the speed of a normal vampire." D'Ablo said and stuck his hand out for Vlad to take. The young Halfling took his hand and he was pulled up to his feet. "What now?" Vlad asked, D'Ablo stepped back and looked at the boy. "Jasik" the vampire called his assistant over. Jasik walked over and stood before Vlad, "I want you both to spar" D'Ablo said "don't kill each other, just practice." He said and stepped back. Vlad looked at Jasik, who nodded. "Ready?" the thief asked "yes" Vlad answered, they both stepped back and readied themselves.

* * *

Vlad kicked at the vampire, Jasik grabbed his leg and tossed Vlad to the side. The young Halfling hit the ground with an audible thud, his body screamed in a bit of protest as he stood. If Vlad didn't know any better, he'd think that Jasik would kill him. Hell, if he knew better; then he wouldn't have come out here alone with them! Vlad heard D'Ablo let out a sound that sounded like "Tsk, Tsk" Vlad turned to look at the vampire "Come now, master Pravus." D'Ablo said from across the clearing, "you give him too many openings, if this were a real fight, you'd be dead several times over." Vlad picked himself up and looked at the vampire thief, Jasik started to stalk around him, Vlad narrowed his eyes. He didn't know what D'Ablo expected, Vlad wasn't like him. The young Halfling hadn't had decades or centuries to get stronger and master skills. Vlad looked back at Jasik, closed his eyes, and concentrated. He pulled on his power, the abilities with in him. He opened his eyes and rushed at Jasik, the boy moved as if he was going to throw a punch. Jasik ready himself to catch his fist, at the last moment Vlad switched his attack and kicked the vampire in the side. Jasik stumbled to the side, giving Vlad an opening. He pulled his fist back and punched the vampire in the right eye. Jasik put a hand to his eye, Vlad knew it was already healing. He stood back, taking in deep breaths of air, his body not exactly use to this sort of work out or fight. The sound of clapping broke the silence of the meadow, "good job, Master Pravus." D'Ablo said "I didn't think it would be possible for anyone to fake me out like that." Jasik said with a chuckle, "but I'm impressed." The vampire moved his hand away, revealing a healed eye. There was no sign of a bruise or injury. Vlad could only suspect that the place he'd kicked Jasik on the side had also healed up. Vlad turned to D'Ablo and asked "hey, what time is it? I need to be home before Otis and Nelly wake up." D'Ablo took out a gold and silver pocket watch and glanced at it "3:30 in the morning." He answered, his grey eyes looked back to Vlad. "I should start back." He said, "If they notice I'm gone, there is no way I'm gonna be able to tell them that I was out here training with you." Vlad said, "of course, though I suspect that your aunt won't understand as much as Otis, and we don't want him to panic over nothing." D'Ablo said, amused. Vlad shook his head with a smile "if it was nothing, I could tell Otis that you wanted to train me." Vlad said, the vampires didn't argue his point, they just turned and started for the path out of the clearing.

* * *

As the three walked down the winding trail, Vlad looked at the vampires. "Hey, D'Ablo" Vlad spoke up, he had a question that had been bugging him since the night that sword had been thrown through his window. "What is it, Master Pravus?" Vlad sighed "you seem to know the prophecy of the Pravus pretty well, is there anything about some sort of future sight?" D'Ablo raised his eye brow, "I do not think so, though I don't know the prophecy in its entirety. No one but the keeper knows that." D'Ablo said, his steel grey eyes focused on Vlad. "Why do you ask?" Vlad bit at his bottom lip "the other night, I think I had some sort of vision. About Otis, it was right before Ignatius threw a sword through my window." Vlad said, D'Ablo stopped, frozen in place. "Master Pravus, before I continue. I must know." D'Ablo turned to face Vlad "at any recent time, have you bitten and fed from a fellow vampire?" Vlad noticed his eyes had gone hard, a look of disgust and hatred hidden behind the thin veil of grey. "No, I mean Otis and Vikas gave me a bit of blood after Joss staked me. But that was freshman year." Vlad said "also, I thought that was against Elysian Law, isn't it?" D'Ablo nodded "so is murder but humans still kill each other, Master Pravus." D'Ablo said, his eyes seemed to soften "you said it was before Ignatius threw a sword through your window?" Vlad nodded, they both stared at each other for a moment. A smile passed D'Ablo's lips "it wasn't a prophetic vision." He said, his cane now pointing directly at Vlad. "Then what was it?" the young Halfling hadn't really gotten the answers he wanted so far. It felt like he was playing a game with D'Ablo or something "it was a vision, just one given to you by Ignatius." The president of the council said "how?" Vlad watched as D'Ablo turned to keep walking, signaling for the boy to follow. Vlad rushed to keep up with the vampires "it was more of warning, I think he hoped you'd push your uncle out of the way. In turn, you'd be killed by the sword. Or maybe he was just telling you he planned to kill his other son before killing you." D'Ablo shrugged "he'd be stupid to, you're the one they sent him after. Killing Otis would just land the maniac a death sentence." D'Ablo pointed out, his gaze traveled over to Jasik, who was scanning the tree line. "If it was anyone else, I would say he was trying to bait you, but considering its Ignatius, he was probably trying to kill Otis." The vampire considered something for a moment.

"So, do I only have to worry about him on nights without a moon?" Vlad asked "who, Ignatius?" Vlad nodded "I'd say so, as I told you, he's far more allergic to the sunlight than other vampires." It was true, Vlad remembered the conversation they had a week or so ago in his room. The one that solidified the weirdness of his life, Vlad glanced around. "It might also be worth considering keeping around other people. Your friends, aunt, and uncle will deter him for a while. Hopefully the council will grow impatient and give up." D'Ablo said, Vlad watched him swing the cane in a circle. "So, say I do have to face him." D'Ablo gave him a look that somewhat scared him "kill or be killed, that's how it is in this world." He said "will I get in trouble?" Vlad asked. Jasik placed a hand on his shoulder "nope" the thief said with a grin. "I guess it'd be considered self-defense?" D'Ablo shook his head "no" Vlad furrowed his brow "then what?" D'Ablo stopped again "actually, the crazy basterd has a bounty on his head. Anyone who manages to kill him, gets the bounty." He said, "Elysia does bounties?" Vlad was surprised "yes and your grandfather's is around $500,000." Vlad stared "that's a lot, what did he do?" Vlad noticed a grim look on D'Ablo's face "let's just say, you don't get a bounty from Elysia unless you do something really big and bad." Jasik said, Vlad was about to speak; when a noise in the woods made them all tense. "We should get moving, if horror movies have taught me anything. It's that lingering in a dark isolated forest is never a good idea." Vlad said, "Yes, that is an excellent point, Master Pravus." D'Ablo said before putting a hand on the teens back and giving him a slight push to start moving.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Vlad mused over the night before, last night he'd had a conversation with Otis. One that involved the fate of Nelly, he'd subjected turning nelly into a vampire. Just like the two of them, he'd made the point that it might be safer for her considering the chaos that seemed to follow Vlad. And his uncle had been mixed, Vlad didn't have the heart to say it, but he still considered what D'Ablo had said back in march. Otis had admitted Vlad was right, but he didn't know how good it would be for Nelly. He'd raised the point that Nelly might not adapt to being a vampire that well. By the time the conversation had ended, Vlad wasn't sure if he'd even made a dent in Otis's resolve. Something drew him out of his thoughts, that something was actually a someone. "Hey, you zoned out for a second." Vlad blinked and turned his head, Meredith looked at him with a concerned smile. "Oh sorry, I was just lost in thought I guess." He said with a smile, "its ok" she said, she hugged his arm. Vlad looked up at their surroundings, spring was in the air. The weather was warming, and green was starting to reappeared all over Bathery.

"So, as I was saying, are you planning on going to freedom fest?" Meredith asked "well yeah, of course I am. I usually always go." Vlad said, the girl in pink smiled "should we make it a date?" she asked, Vlad paused for a moment and pretended to think about it. "Hmmm…" he stared "I don't know." He said with a grin, Meredith gave the Halfling a light shove and giggled. "Vlad" she said "I'm kidding, of course we should make it a date. I heard their planning on having carnival rides this year. Maybe we could ride a few and I might do the stereotypical 'win the pretty girl a stuffed toy she'll never use for anything' thing." Vlad said with a laugh, "Oh, would you?" She asked "sure why not, I'll make sure to save up for it though." Vlad said with a chuckle.

The two pause in front of Vlad's house at the sound of Otis. "I swear D'Ablo, you and Vladimir must be conspiring on this. Last night he mentioned the same thing to me and used some of the exact same points." Vlad turned his head to see the front door opened and a familiar shadowy figure pulling on a very familiar long black coat. The council president was facing Otis, "me and Vladimir? Conspiring?" Vlad heard the vampire chuckle as he turned. His dark eyes locked with a pair of slate grey ones. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear." D'Ablo said with a wide, warm grin. Vlad wasn't sure if the grin was just an act, or if the vampire was somewhat pleased to see him. Vlad watched D'Ablo move out of the way as Otis stepped out "oh, Vladimir" Otis's blue eyes blinked as he registered the sight in front of him "walking Meredith home?" he asked "yeah, then I'm gonna come back and get my stuff to spend the weekend at Henry's." Vlad said. Otis smiled and nodded "alright, just be careful, Vladimir." His uncle said, Vlad smiled.

"No date tonight, Vladimir?" D'Ablo asked with a grin, Meredith swayed close to Vlad "I wish, but my father 'miraculously' always has a family night planned whenever we try." Vlad had nearly forgotten she was there till he heard her voice and felt her lean against him. Vlad looked over, his lips curved into a smile, an embarrassed smile, but a smile none the less. "That's a shame" the vampire started down the steps, "I'll be seeing you around, Otis." He said and descended the small flight of steps and walked onto the pathway. "Yes of course, have a good after noon." The blond haired vampire said. Vlad and D'Ablo could practically see the false sincerity dripping from Otis's voice as he spoke. Vlad smiled at his uncle, who looked nervous to see D'Ablo so close to his nephew. D'Ablo waited for the front door to slam closed before looking at Vlad. _'Be careful Vladimir, I suspect he is up to something.'_ Otis's voice came into Vlad's head, the boy blinked _'It's D'Ablo, I'd be shocked if he wasn't up to something bad.'_ Vlad said to his uncle, he then, once again, met D'Ablo's steel grey eyes, unsure of what to say. The vampire glanced at Meredith, "mind if I walk with you two?" he asked. Vlad looked at Meredith, who just shrugged. "Fine with us, I guess." The half vampire said, D'Ablo started a head of them. Meredith let go of Vlad's arm to catch up to the vampire. "So, your friends with Otis?" she asked, Vlad was quick to follow "friends is a touchy word, we'd consider each other acquaintances." The vampire twirled the long, slender cane in a circle. "Oh" the girl in pink said softly "and Vlad?" she asked, the two vampires tensed "I knew Vladimir's father when we were younger. But I've only recently got the pleasure of speaking with Vladimir himself in recent years." It wasn't a lie, Tomas had once been D'Ablo's Vice President. Otis and Vikas had both mentioned that had been a sort of mentoring relationship, which Vlad couldn't help but ponder over. Was it something like what D'Ablo was doing with him, in which they had a mutual respect in one another but didn't really trust one another? Or had they been closer at one point? "Really?" D'Ablo nodded.

As they rounded a corner, D'Ablo glanced at Vlad. The boy was once again holding Meredith's hand, he shook his head slightly. Vlad gave him a glance, it was one that told D'Ablo the boy was still on edge around him. _'Are you afraid of me, Master Pravus?'_ D'Ablo watched the boy tense at the voice in his head. The vampire stared at him, his face a mask. Vlad looked at the human girl, who was completely unaware that there could be a conversation going on with out here knowledge. _'To tell you the truth, I still don't trust you completely._ ' Vlad admitted to him, _'do you worry I'll change my mind about Otis?'_ Vlad stayed silent for a moment 'yes, I do' the vampire considered saying something else, but then the girl in pink spoke up. "Hey, Vlad I have an idea." D'Ablo stopped as the pair approached a house. "what is it?" he asked, D'Ablo was silent as the girl turned to look at him "Summer Fest is coming up, would you like to join us?" the girl asked, D'Ablo's face showed no emotion. Though he was baffled at the girl's question, Vladimir on the other hand. His face showed a complete range of shock and surprise. The vampire wagered that he'd not expected her to ask the strange man dressed in all black, who carries a cane with him constantly; to attend a festival. "Meredith, I'm sure he's got to be pretty busy. I don't know if he'd have time to attend a carnival of all things." D'Ablo raised an eyebrow at the boy "I might be able to," D'Ablo smiled, mostly at Vlad. The vampire considered it for a moment. If that night was a new moon, it was possible Ignatius might try something. The smile on D'Ablo's lips didn't falter, he considered the possibility that Vladimir might be able to fight and kill the old, crazy, murderous vampire by that point. If judging by the boy's advancements in the past few weeks were anything to go by. He'd do well in one on one combat at least. "Of course, I'd have to take a look at my schedule." His voice was calm, it betrayed nothing. Vlad let out a sigh "alright, well we hope to see you there."

D'Ablo waited as they climbed the steps, Vlad kissed the girl goodbye. He then sent a telepathic message to Vlad _'I'd like to continue talking, if you wouldn't mind?'_ he said, Vlad didn't' give him a glance as Meredith walked inside. The door clicked and D'Ablo watched as the boy turned to look at him, "about?" he walked back on the side walk "are you up to training tonight?" Vlad looked at him "of course" he shrugged as they crossed the street. "And your friend?" "Will be coming with us." Vlad said, D'Ablo furrowed his brow "it is against Elysian law to reveal your Vampiric heritage to a human." Vlad smiled and shook his head, this D'Ablo found a bit infuriating "dude, Henry is my drudge. Last time I checked, it was sort of impossible for them to not know you're a vampire." Vlad said, D'Ablo cast the boy a skeptical look "let me guess, you know I have a drudge, you just didn't care to learn his name before having Jasik clock him over the head with a bat." Vlad said, D'Ablo just shrugged "it did not seem important to me." The vampire shrugged.

The pair made their way to a nearby bench "so, you considered informing this boy of our arrangement?" "Yeah, I'll tell him when I get to his house. That way he doesn't panic upon seeing you." Vlad said "worry I'll hurt him?" Vlad smiled "no, I worry he'll try and punch you in the face." Vlad pointed at the vampire in black, "and don't think he won't be stupid enough to try, cause he will." Vlad said, and it was true. Henry would be the one person who knew fully what a vampire like D'Ablo could do, and would try to sucker punch them. McMillian or not, even henry couldn't take down a vampire, but the odds wouldn't keep him from attempting it. And Vlad worried D'Ablo might just break his best friend's wrist for an attempt. "Trust me, he'd do it in a heartbeat if I didn't explain everything first." Vlad warned, D'Ablo nodded acceptingly "alright, just make sure he isn't a distraction or a problem." The vampire leaned back "I'll see you tonight, normal place by the school?" Vlad asked "yes, like always." The vampire said, Vlad stood and turned to walk away "oh, and please make your schedule as busy as possible." He called over his shoulder. D'Ablo just shook his head and smiled "I don't think so, Master Pravus. I've got something planned for you, and I want to see it through."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Vlad and Henry rounded the corner of the school, "look man, I still don't think meeting up with D'Ablo is a good idea." The blond haired teen said, Vlad just shrugged "I've been doing this for the past few weeks, henry. If D'Ablo wanted to kill me or trap me, he would have done it the first night we went out." Vlad said, Henry gave him a look "D'Ablo is bat shit crazy, you know this!" henry pointed it, and it was true. The council president was somewhat off his rocker. Between the stalking, attempt at murder, and breaking and entering, Vlad wasn't quite sure what his motivation for training him was. Vlad thought back to the past few weeks, it wasn't like D'Ablo had completely stopped following him periodically. In fact Vlad had spied the vampire more than a few times around Bathery. But still, Vlad paused when he saw D'Ablo leaning against the tree. "Good evening, Master Pravus."

Henry stopped beside Vlad, the vampire pulled a pocket watch from his coat. "Early tonight, that's a shock." He said. The Halfling walked over "why?" he asked, D'Ablo smiled before answering "I was sure you'd be a bit slower with your friend alongside you." He said, Vlad raised an eyebrow "Vlad" Henry grabbed his friend's shoulder, D'Ablo looked at the human. "So, how did he take the explanation?" D'Ablo gestured a gloved hand at the boy "remember how I mentioned that I was worried he'd try to punch you in the face or something." The elder vampire nodded, Vlad glanced at his friend. A very pissed off look in his face "I didn't consider the possibility that he'd punch me in the face instead." Vlad said, D'Ablo raised an eyebrow, an amused smile on his face. "Master Pravus, you have the strength and power to stop him from even touching you." The vampire walked closer, Henry glared at him. "I'm not mind controlling my best friend." Vlad said sharply, D'Ablo opened his mouth to speak "or breaking his arm, that's out of the question too." Vlad looked around, he noticed the absence of one vampire in particular "where is Jasik?" Vlad asked "he had another contract to take care of, something about stealing an ancient artifact from a Parisian museum." D'Ablo said "will he be coming back?" D'Ablo nodded "yes, but not for a few days." The vampire said, his eyes then landed on Henry "are you sure you want to bring your drudge along with us?" Vlad nodded "yes, he's my best friend and he at least deserves to know what's going on." Vlad said, his eyes focused on D'Ablo. The vampire then shrugged, alright then, if you both are ready, we can get going." He said, the two teens nodded.

Vlad jumped along the branches, avoiding the nice sized pebbles that D'Ablo was throwing in his direction. Something D'Ablo had started doing two weeks earlier. Vlad remembered his 'mentor' had said something along the lines of _"if you can dodge a rock you can dodge a stake_." Before hitting the young Halfling square in the forehead with a rock. Vlad turned his attention back to the pair, D'Ablo was throwing another rock at Vlad. As it flew at him, Vlad quickly outstretched his hand and grabbed it. Vlad saw the recognition and shock on the vampires face, but he kept jumping and dodging until he got close enough. Then Vlad threw the rock back at the vampire who had just turned to look at him. D'Ablo stumbled as the rock came in contact this the side of his head. Vlad stopped and looked at his teacher, D'Ablo straightened himself and looked at the boy. A laugh escaped him "I should have seen that coming, good job Master Pravus." D'Ablo said with a smiled. Vlad watched him dab the little bit of blood up with a handkerchief. "But, not part of my instructions." His grey eyes flashed up at Vlad. "What are you gonna do, give him detention or something?" Henry asked, Vlad shot his friend a look that screamed 'do not antagonize the crazy old vampire that could kill us both with little more than a flick of the wrist.' D'Ablo didn't respond to henry, instead he acted like the boy didn't even speak or exist. "But as usual, you find ways around that. And I like it, it shows me that you are considering your situation carefully." D'Ablo said.

Vlad jumped down and walked over to the vampire, whose steel grey gaze stared deep into his dark eyes. "You've been doing well thus far, I knew you could do well with training. But not this well." D'Ablo said with a smile "really?" Vlad asked "yes, I was honestly fearing that your human side might have hampered your abilities somewhat, but I see you are more than capable to handle Vampiric powers. But you still need to work on them, mind control being one of those things." D'Ablo said "you and Otis say that a lot," "because we are right about it, Mind Control is one of the most powerful abilities a vampire has." D'Ablo said "what if I don't want to control others?" Vlad asked "Master Pravus, there will come a day when you will want to. I could stand here the rest of the night explaining them to you. But let's just say you come face to face with a group of slayers, you're gravely wounded and you can't physically fight. Mind control would be perfect to help you get out of this, hypothetical, situation." D'Ablo said "how would that help him?" Henry asked, the boy walked around to stand by his friend. "well, you could do any of the following: convince them to leave you be, confuse them, control one or two to start a fight with in the group, or in your possible case, Master Pravus, Kill them with just a thought." D'Ablo said "what?" Vlad watched him grin "it's one of the many possible powers you're expected to have." D'Ablo said "killing people with just a mere thought? That's fucked up, really fucked up." Vlad said, D'Ablo chuckled and shook his head.

"D'Ablo, is that you?" Vlad saw the vampire tense. His steel grey eyes darted from his protégée to look around the clearing. Vlad saw they were full of hate and distain for the speaker. Before anything else could be said, a silver tipped stake flew by D'Ablo's head. Vlad watched a line of blood appear on the vampire's cheek. He whipped it away and turned, a sadistic smile on his face "Lena, it has been a while." Vlad saw the fangs shoot from his gums "hasn't it" D'Ablo glared at the woman. She walked out of the shadow of the trees, her hair was cropped short, only just below her jaw line. Over her right eye was a jagged scare that didn't seem to have impeded her sight. "18 years, 18 years without my son." Her voice cracked, D'Ablo glared. But Vlad saw pain "Alex was my son as well." Vlad stared, his eyes wide in shock. Vlad saw the face of the woman change to horror and anger "don't you dare say his name, if it wasn't for you, he'd still be alive and well. He'd be like me and his father, a slayer." Vlad tensed at the word, so did henry. "D'Ablo, what is she talking about?" Vlad walked over to the vampire. "18 years ago, I sired a new vampire. One that had been my drudge for a few years at that point. He was a good boy, showed a lot of promise for the future. If he were alive now, he might have taken your father's place as my vice president." The vampire said, "But he died." D'Ablo nodded "at the hands of his own mother." Vlad felt his gaze shift to the woman "you killed your own son, because he'd become a vampire?" Henry asked, "No, I killed a monster that had taken my son." D'Ablo's hand gripped the cane in his hand. His eyes flashed dangerously 'prepare for a fight, and aim to kill them.' Vlad glanced at the vampire and nodded. "He was a bright boy, with an interest in the supernatural. Something that I blame for what happened, we should have done better and made sure he didn't have access to that poison! He learned that vampires existed while in training." D'Ablo spoke up "and went out searching for one, and found me feeding. He wanted to become like me, he wanted to join the world of Elysia." D'Ablo started to back away, giving Vlad the order to follow.

Vlad looked back at Henry "be ready to run if they attack, I don't want you getting hurt." Vlad said "and when you learned that he had made his choice and followed me into the vampire world. You hunted him, you hunted the poor child down and staked him through the heart." Vlad could practically see the venom in his voice "my only regret is that I didn't take you down with him." Vlad glared at the woman, the more he learned about slayers, the more disgusted he became. How could anyone justify murdering a loved one because of a choice they made? "But that changes, tonight I take care of you and those two boys." D'Ablo smiled "tsk tsk, I remembered you being smarter than this. It's technically three on one, if that boy is anything near capable of handling himself in a fight." D'Ablo said, then it was Lena's turn to smile "who said I was alone?" she said, Vlad heard the crack of a branch as at least five more slayers walked out of the woods around them. "Still, it's terrible odds." D'Ablo said, a smile on his face. "Master Pravus, remember what I said. Aim to kill, do not let any of them get back up." His voice was strict, Vlad felt his heart sink. He really didn't want to kill anyone, but if it had to be done. He shut his eyes and focused "and Henry" the human winced at his name "do what you can to avoid getting staked or stabbed." "Gee thanks for the great advice, oh wise man." The teen said.

Vlad jumped up into the trees, "ignore the boy for now, our major concern here is the vampires." She said, her eyes darted to Vlad and then back to D'Ablo. "Let's say we have a one on one duel and my student can take care of your friends?" Vlad winced, him? Take on five or six slayers at once. He could barely take on joss and that landed him in the hospital after receiving a stake through the back. 'Master Pravus, focus! You have learned a lot during our sessions, use that to confuse and take down the enemy.' D'Ablo's voice scolded him, Vlad watched the woman pull a stake from her belt and smile "one on one it is," Vlad turned his attention from the duel and looked at the other slayers. Three of which held some sort of modified cross bow. Wonderful, they had long range weapons too! Vlad darted along the tree tops, dodging the stakes that whizzed by him. Vlad turned to look as one flew right at him, his mind flashed back to the small rock just a short time before. He put his hand out and caught the wooden instrument. He then continued on like he'd done earlier, 'deceive and kill.' The words flashed through his mind. As much as Vlad hated to admit, these people were going to try and kill him. His eyes flashed purple as he took aim and through the stake back at the group of slayers. Vlad cringed as it tore into the back of one of the females. Even with his limited knowledge on anatomy, Vlad knew he must have severed her spine as she crumpled into a heap. Vlad bit his lip, he felt awful deep down. But he knew there would be time to think later, he needed to dispatch the rest. His eyes fell on D'Ablo who was blocking every blow the slayer attempted to land. Vlad wondered how many fight's D'Ablo had been in, how many slayers he'd fought and killed. The boy then looked down, his eyes scanned the clearing for henry. "Vlad!" his eyes locked on his best friend who was pinned under one of the slayers. A stake still in his hand, ready to kill another human. Vlad jumped down and grabbed the stake from the woman's back. His eyes locked with that of the slayer "let him go, right now. He's a human, not a vampire." Vlad said the slayer glared at him, but didn't relent. Vlad let out a growl and rushed the man, stake in hand. Vlad felt the hot red liquid splash his face as he drove the wooden stake into the man's neck. His eyes looked up, the other three were running at him. "Henry, get out of here, I'll take care of them!" Vlad commanded, the teen had no choice but to obey the order and he backed into the tree line.

Vlad bared his fangs "you do not touch him, do you understand me." He growled, he felt D'Ablo's gaze on him for a second. The eyes of the slayers narrowed "you fight me, attack me! Not my friends!" Vlad felt power surge through his blood. It was incredible, amazing, awesome, and strange. Vlad planted his feet in place and focused his sight on one slayer in the middle, the only one still holding her crossbow. With Vampiric speed, he took off. His eyes focused on her chest, he could see the blood moving through her veins. Without realizing it he'd used the sense D'Ablo had told him about. Vlad felt the desire to rip her heart from her chest. "H-his eyes!" the voice of one of the other slayers called out. "That's unnatural, even for a vampire!" Vlad blinked and noticed a stake heading right for him. Just like the time before, he grabbed it and ran for the woman. She barely had time to register her situation before the wooden implement was embedded in her heart.

Vlad ripped it out and looked at the last two, who were staring at him in fear. He felt his heart thudding against his rib cage, his mind raced. Three people, he'd just killed three people in cold blood. No! It was self-defense and he was defending Henry. Vlad bared his fangs again and jumped back into the tree branches. His eyes still glowed an unearthly purple, Vlad gripped the pointed wood, his eyes watching them. Should he let them go? He'd already killed three, what was the point in killing the other two. D'Ablo would handle Lena and they'd just leave. Go home and forget tonight ever happened _'kill them you idiot, every slayer you let live is a chance to give information to our enemies. Everything they've seen you do, they'll report it back to their leaders.'_ D'Ablo's voice sounded off in Vlad's head. He knew the vampire was right, they would talk about what they'd seen and the next time Vlad faced a slayer, they might have the upper hand. The wood still clutched tightly in his hand, the Halfling jumped down and once again, threw the stake. It missed, Vlad let out a string of annoyed curses. His eyes narrowed at the two "what are you?" one of them asked, "The Pravus." Vlad said, his voice held an unnatural amount of power in it. As he walked closer, the pair backed up in fear. Vlad realized that they had never faced anything like him before. Vlad was fast, strong, and agile like other vampires. But he was also different, he was stronger than other vampires, there was more for him to learn and do. Vlad glanced back at D'Ablo, who was still locked in combat and now looked a bit bloodied up and wounded. Vlad narrowed his eyes, in the span of the heartbeat he was behind them. His hands gripped and twisted the head of one of the men. His neck letting out a sickening crack, Vlad let go and let the body fall to the ground. He then looked up at the last remaining slayer "p-p-please, mercy, I'm sorry!" he started to back away "how many vampires have you killed?" the man stared "w-w-what?" "How many vampires have you killed?" the purple eyed teen asked, "I-I-I think… 35 maybe." Vlad stared "how many begged for mercy?" the man didn't answer, but Vlad didn't need him to. He could see the memories of vampires pleading with the slayer, defending themselves against garlic juice and wooden stakes. There were vampires who fought to get out of the sun they had been dragged into. His eyes hardened further "you didn't give mercy when they asked it of you, why should I give it to you?"

D'Ablo turned his head to look at the boy, he was covered in blood spatter. A chill ran up the president's spine as he saw the look in his eyes, it was the look of blood rage. Something he'd only seen in a few vampires before. His blood ran cold, before the vampire could call out and try to stop the boy. A kick landed on his chest, sending the elder vampire flying back against a tree. Something cracked as he hit the trunk, "of all that things, I'd never think I'd get you because you took your eyes off me." Lena said, she gripped the stake in her hand as she approached. D'Ablo glanced at Vlad, the boy was silent. D'Ablo saw a glint of silver above him, D'Ablo looked up. But it wasn't the silver tipped stake that hit him, it was a splash of blood. His steel grey gaze locked on a red object pultruding from the slayers stomach. Behind her was Vlad, the boy was holding something. A knife? Sword? D'Ablo wasn't sure, but he watched as it withdrew from the human. Lena collapsed to her knees, D'Ablo didn't bother showing sympathy to her. When it came to slayers, he never did. He'd lost too many to the society, too many good friends and family. D'Ablo snarled at the woman as she bleed out, He didn't look away from Vlad, his eyes burned with a purple glow that terrified the vampire. The boy approached "are you alright?" he asked, D'Ablo pushed himself to his feet "yes, but what about you?" the boy just nodded, D'Ablo took a shaky step forward. The boy in front of him, the one that had been so against the thought of murder and killing is enemies, smiled. "You're safe, Henry's safe, and Vladimir is safe." The boy glanced around "my work here is done then." He said, D'Ablo was about to speak, when the boy closed his eyes and began to fall forward. D'Ablo rushed to catch the boy before he hit the ground. The vampire suspected he might be injured and he wasn't about to let it get any worse. Henry rushed from the edge of the clearing, "is he ok?" D'Ablo looked up from the unconscious Halfling, I think so, but we should go. There might be more slayers around here and I don't want to run the risk of running into more of them." the elder vampire said, Henry agreed. After all that, he wanted to get home and sleep and he was sure that Vlad would appreciate getting a good night's sleep as well.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Long fallen leaves crunched under the feet of the vampire and human. D'Ablo had wrapped the unconscious Vlad in his jacket and was carrying him like a parent carries a sleeping child. The young Halfling's head rested against the vampire's shoulder, his legs dangled at the knees were D'Ablo's other arm held him. His eyes still shut, but his breathing was normal. D'Ablo looked down at the black haired teen, he'd never seen a vampire do anything like what the boy had accomplished. The speed he moved at, the power behind his attacks, and the ability to control blood itself. It was amazing and terrifying, this boy had more potential that he thought. More powers to work on, and more control to be taught. D'Ablo considered the situation, Vladimir Tod had taken down no less than 5 slayers on his own and finished off their leader with a blade made of pure blood. Even he had to admit that this was fucked up. Out of everything he'd researched about the Pravus, every theory that had been produced by Vampire kind. Nothing had ever mention some of the things he'd seen that night. And those eyes, a bright lavender glow had enveloped the boy's irises. D'Ablo could only remember seeing that happen to one other Vampire. The vampire was broken from his thoughts by a soft moan that broke the silence of the night, "Vlad?" D'Ablo stopped as the boy started to move "Master Pravus, are you alright?" he asked "wh-what happened?" D'Ablo looked down, the boy's dark eyes had slightly opened.

Vlad looked up at the vampire carrying him, his head was swimming with pain and confusion "do you not remember?" D'Ablo asked, "no, not really." Vlad murmured, he glanced around, they were on the path out of the clearing "I'm going to take you two home, I don't think you are in any condition to walk." D'Ablo said, his voice took on an odd tone. One that felt familiar to Vlad "no, no I can walk." D'Ablo's slate grey eyes locked with his "Master Pravus, please don't be stubborn. I can clearly see you are in no condition to even consider walking." Henry spoke up next "as much as I hate to say it, D'Ablo's right. We'll get you back to my house and you can sleep in my bed this time." The blond haired boy said with a smile "ok…" Vlad said with a tired tone, his gaze then slipped back to the vampire holding him. He struggled to keep his eyes open. The vampire noticed this and gave the boy a soft smile, it confused Vlad to see such a look on the face of a man who could kill without remorse. "It's alright if you want to go back to sleep," D'Ablo said, Vlad stared at his steel grey eyes. Sleep actually sounded nice, for some reason he felt exhausted. More exhausted than he'd felt from previous sessions, Vlad allowed his tired eyes to close and his mind to slip back into slumber.

* * *

"He'll probably need blood when he wakes up." D'Ablo said as he laid the boy on the bed and covered him with the blankets. "That shouldn't be a problem, he usually brings a few bags of blood with him when he spends the night." Henry said, D'Ablo put his coat back on "how many?" he asked "I don't know," the human ran a hand through his blond hair "maybe around 4 or 5, usually." D'Ablo glanced at the backpack leaning against a chair. "If he needs more, try to convince him to bite you. He used a lot of power and energy tonight." The vampire started for the window, but a tug on his sleeve stopped him. "Hey, wait" Henry said, D'Ablo glanced back at the blond haired human. "What is it?" he asked "what the hell happened with Vlad tonight?" Henry kept his voice to a low whisper, but he had to know. He'd watched his best friend kill at least 6 people and after each, Vlad had hardly seemed fazed by the fact. He'd just continued on until everyone was dead, and that weapon he had. That wasn't normal, even for Vlad "we were attacked by slayers and Master Pravus dispatched them." D'Ablo said with a tone that meant he was lecturing the boy. "Not just that, I know Vlad. I've known him since we were just little kids. He's never been able to stand up for himself like that, let alone kill someone." Henry gripped the black fabric of the jacket "yet, he just butchered half a dozen slayers." Henry felt the threat of tears in his eyes, he feared he would lose Vlad to whatever had him tonight. That Vlad would become a monster, one who didn't know how to show mercy or kindness. "He was protecting you and himself." D'Ablo put it in such a simple way, that if felt weird to hear. "One of those Slayers cried out for mercy, D'Ablo." Henry said the grey eyes of the vampire harden "so have many Vampires, yet they showed no mercy to us or to our young." D'Ablo said. Without another word, the vampire tugged his sleeve away and jumped out the open window into the night.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Vlad looked down at his home work, for the past four days he had barely been able to focus on anything school related. The events of the past weekend were mostly a blur, but what Henry had told him had frightened the Halfling to the core. He'd been able to kill half a dozen people and not remember anything past the first kill. The feeling he got when the stake had torn through the woman's back. After that, it was just darkness until he awoke in D'Ablo's arms. Which still freaked him out, the way the vampire had wrapped him in his coat and carried him. It felt familiar, like how his father had done a when he'd fallen asleep in his lap or on the couch. The Halfling blinked away the threat of tears at such a found memory. He sighed and glanced down at the note book in front of him. Math had never come easily to the boy, even now it frustrated the boy to no end. That frustration was made worse by the fact he couldn't stop thinking about the other night, he could barely concentrate on anything. Vlad sighed and tapped his pencil against the desk as he thought, it was soon echoed by another tap. This one from outside his window, Vlad felt his body lock up.

His dark eyes shifted over to his window, expecting D'Ablo to be there. But instead, it was Jasik. The vampire thief smiled and pointed to the window lock. _'Open it'_ Vlad jumped at the voice of the vampire in his head. The smile on Jasik's face was expecting, like he knew Vlad would open the window for him. Vlad sighed and walked over, he opened the window and expected the thief to slip in like D'Ablo had. But instead, Jasik reached inside and grabbed Vlad by the collar of his shirt and pulled him out. Vlad let out a soft yelp "shush" the vampire said and jumped down from the window. "What are you doing?" Vlad asked "D'Ablo wants to talk with you" Jasik said, the vampire set the boy down. "Now?" he nodded "he's been busy, said this was the only time he'd have to come and talk to you." Vlad raised an eye brow "and where is he?" Vlad asked "at some diner nearby," the vampire said "that close?" Jasik nodded, Vlad bit his lip and looked back at his room. "Hold on" Jasik lightly tilted his head to the side as the Halfling moved to float up to the window. _'I'm gonna tell Otis I'm going for a walk. I don't want him coming up here and finding me missing.'_ Vlad sent the message to the vampire, _'alright then, but hurry.'_ Vlad closed the window and left his bed room.

* * *

The door to the Diner opened with a soft chime from the bell, Vlad glanced around. He saw D'Ablo sitting alone at a far booth, a cup of coffee to his lips. Vlad walked over and sat down across from the vampire. He took in the scene around him, D'Ablo was sitting in a dinner drinking coffee. It seemed every time that he saw D'Ablo, things just got even more surreal. "So, what do you want to talk to me about?" Vlad asked, Jasik sat down next to D'Ablo and reached for the menu. The council president set his cup down "about the other night." He said, his voice low and soft, as to not draw any unwanted attention. Vlad tensed "I take it, you mean the night I killed half a dozen people in cold blood." Vlad murmured "it wasn't cold blood, Master Pravus, you were defending yourself, me, and your drudge." Vlad looked at him, his steel grey eyes held fear. Even if the vampire's face didn't show it, "and I don't think that it was you that killed them." D'Ablo took another sip of the hot coffee, Vlad didn't say anything for a moment. How could it not have been him, Henry told him everything that he saw. And Vlad had remembered killing at least one of the slayers. "What do you mean by that?" Vlad asked. D'Ablo paused as a waitress came over and took the orders of the two newer customers and then walked away. Vlad had just ordered a glass of water, while Jasik had gotten the same thing as his boss.

D'Ablo continued "over the past few days, during what little free time I had, I went back into the Stokerton archives." D'Ablo said, his face turning series "I did some research and came across some interesting theories that I had discounted before." The vampire said, Vlad found himself leaning forward. He was truly curious, anything that had to do with his possible fate and future made him curious. D'Ablo didn't speak as the cup of water and coffee were placed on the table. The waitress once again dismissed herself and walked away. "It seems that some vampires theorized that the Pravus it's self wouldn't exactly be the vampire itself." The steel grey eyes of the older vampire focused on Vlad "instead, it was thought that it might be a part of him. Similar to an alternate personality, though it can't be confirmed or denied at this point in time." D'Ablo said "what does this have to do with what happened?" Vlad asked, "How much do you remember from that night?" D'Ablo asked, Vlad thought back through the events of the evening before answering. "Everything after I killed the first slayer and before I awoke in your arms is a complete blur." Vlad said, "So you don't remember your drudge being in peril? Or summoning a weapon made of pure blood?" he asked, Vlad stared "no, Henry said he'd been in danger and that I saved him. But a weapon made of blood? Is that even possible?" Vlad asked, D'Ablo shrugged "I've never seen any vampire do that, not even the oldest and most power full of vampires." He said, "A weapon of blood…" Vlad looked down at his hands. What else could he be capable of? Could he kill with just a thought? Demolish buildings with a single punch? Cause his enemies to end their own lives in a mind controlled haze? Vlad looked back at the vampire "are my powers listed in the prophecy?" Vlad asked "cause, I'd like to know what to expect in the future." The boy stirred the mix of ice and water in his cup. "I don't know, Master Pravus" D'Ablo admitted. Vlad's jaw tightened, D'Ablo didn't know? Wasn't this guy some sort of expert on the prophecy or something? "You don't know, I though you studied all of this stuff through the years?" D'Ablo sighed "I have, but the problem is…" D'Ablo paused and glanced around. Vlad watched as he placed the cup to his lips and downed the rest of his drink "I won't lie, all right, a vast majority of vampire kind doesn't know the prophecy in its entirety." D'Ablo pointed at Vlad with his cup, "Only three vampires know the prophecy of the Pravus in its entirety." D'Ablo set his empty cup down "and two of them are dead" he said, Vlad glanced at Jasik, who was still silent. "What about the third?" Vlad asked.

The two vampires looked at each other, Vlad saw a look of worry and fear on their faces. "What is it?" Vlad asked, D'Ablo leaned back. His eyes closed as he thought. The vampire seemed to be choosing his words carefully "this vampire, well he isn't exactly safe or sane." D'Ablo began "not safe?" D'Ablo didn't speak, but Jasik did "what D'Ablo means is that, well, this vampire doesn't feed like normal vampires." Jasik said, Vlad furrowed his brow. That didn't make much sense, unless this vampire ate like he had for most of his life. Subsisting off blood bags and the like. "What does that mean?" he asked "it means, he feeds off his fellow vampires." D'Ablo said, Vlad struggled to suppress the urge to scream "what?" he leaned across the table "I-I-I thought that was against Elysian Law, it's basically cannibalism." D'Ablo nodded "yes, but none of us want to touch him." D'Ablo said "he's far more powerful than most vampires, including Vikas." The vampire actually looked serious and fearful of the only other creature to know the prophecy in its entirety. "Most vampires avoid him, or give him whatever he wants." Jasik said "because they fear what he'll do?" D'Ablo and Jasik nodded "not even Em dares to stand against him completely and she's the oldest and most powerful among us." D'Ablo said, his voice hushed. Vlad rolled the thoughts around in his head for a moment. "And you don't want me near this vampire, why?" D'Ablo sighed "because I fear he might want your blood, and he's a very persistent man." D'Ablo said, Vlad shot him a look to remind him that he was the same way. "Even more so than I, and if your blood is what he wants…" D'Ablo trailed off for a moment and then spoke "I won't be able to stop him, no one would." Vlad sank back, the only person who could tell him anything about the possibilities of his future, could very well decide to drain him of every drop of blood in his body.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

D'Ablo silently moved through the shadows, as usual the vampire was completely cloaked in black. Night had fallen on the small town of Bathery and the Festival was in full swing. The vampire glanced down at his pocket watch, it was nearing 10:30 already. His eyes then glanced at the sky, a few clouds dotted the bluish black void along with countless stars. But the most important thing was the lack of a moon, tonight was a new moon. The vampire's lips parted in a smile, he was more than excited about tonight. His eyes refocused on the couple in front of him. Vlad and Meredith walked the streets of Bathery alone. It hadn't taken much more than a few simple suggestions implanted into the girls brain to get them away from the rest of the town. D'Ablo stayed quiet as the pair approached one of the many darkened houses and Vlad kissed the girl good bye. D'Ablo just shook his head and watched the boy turn to continue back to the festivities. "Just like your father" D'Ablo shook his head, his mouth still turned up in a grin.

Vlad walked the quite streets alone, his mind wondered too many places. After the night at the diner with D'Ablo, Vlad couldn't shake the questions and concerns that haunted him. His eyes closed and he sighed "welcome to my fucking life" he mumbled to himself. He then looked around, lightning bugs danced around him. The smells and sounds of early summer were everywhere and it felt nice. Vlad considered just sending Otis a message through telepathy and then heading home or to the belfry for a little while. After all, a little peace and quiet never killed anyone. Vlad had just began to formulate the message in his mind, when something heavy slammed into him.

The Halfling tumbled across the pavement, small scratches cut his skin as he landed. Vlad felt something cold press against his throat, he looked up to see a very familiar vampire above him. "Ignatius" Vlad said, the long tan coat of the vampire had draped over them, Vlad also took note of the more medieval like attire he wore. While most vampires he'd seen wore clothing straight out of the Victorian era, Ignatius reminded Vlad of a pirate captain. Vlad then glanced up at his face, a few scars remained on his face from who knows what, his eyes were a deep blue. And his hair was a dark brown, like D'Ablo's. The older vampire grinned in glee "it's nice to see you again, grandson." His eyes didn't hold the same smile that was on his lips. Instead they looked angry and disappointed, "took you long enough, I was starting to think you decided not to kill me." Vlad said, he readied himself to push the vampire off and fight. "Our last encounter didn't go so well for me, as you remember." He said, Vlad focused on the vampire's cold gaze. "oh I remember, I'm surprised you're not dead." Vlad said, he glanced down at the sword at his throat "get a new sword?" the Halfling asked, he noticed that the vampire showed his irritation. Vlad took the chance and kicked the elder off him. As Ignatius flew back, Vlad pushed himself to his feet and go into a fighting position.

Ignatius landed a few feet away, Vlad watched as he swiftly got to his feet. "Well, that was unexpected" he said with a grin "trust me, there's a hell of a lot more where that came from." Vlad said, he narrowed his eyes. This guys must have been crazy if he thought he could attack Vlad in the middle of the town. "Crazy, yes" Ignatius said "but you forgot that everyone else is at that festival. I can guarantee that we won't be disturbed." Vlad glared at the vampire, he'd been able to read his mind without Vlad even realizing he was in there. This didn't bode well for the young Halfling, but he also had the lessons that D'Ablo had taught him. He wasn't going to run for safety, he was going to fight and win. Vlad watched as his grandfather ran at him, sword in hand. The boy showed no fear, no apprehension, and no second thoughts as he spun and kicked the vampire again. Ignatius flew back and hit a tree, causing the vampire to let out a short yelp of pain. "You little brat!" the elder snapped with anger and hatred burning in his gaze. Vlad started to back away, giving himself more distance. His mind raced on what to do, before he remembered. He had the Lucis, one of the best weapons against a vampire was in his possession. In his back pocket, where he could easily grabbed it and use it against this crazy vampire. Vlad glanced away, only for a moment as he reached for the weapon. Ignatius had seen his chance though, and tackled the boy to the ground again, Vlad kicked and struggled against him. "planning on using the Lucis?" he asked, Vlad watched in horror as the vampire reached down and pulled the small black cylinder from his pocket "this really isn't a fair fight for me if you have this." Ignatius said and Vlad watched as he flung the Lucis off into the darkened woods.

Before Vlad could even consider a plan of action, Ignatius grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him up. Vlad was speechless as he was thrown into the woods. His back slammed into a tree, Vlad felt a bit of blood spill from his mouth as he coughed. "shit" he whispered as he looked back towards the road, Ignatius had disappeared. But Vlad guess he'd taken to the shadows, Vlad stood and felt his body already mending itself. The boy closed his eyes and concentrated, he drew upon the sense that D'Ablo had taught him. He then searched the woods, his eyes landed on a figure up in the branches of the tree. Vlad narrowed his eyes and slowly started to back away, his eyes still focused on the figure. He wasn't going to get caught off guard, not this time. Vlad blinked and the figure had jumped down, Ignatius was heading straight for him. Vlad readied himself again and grabbed the vampire by the coat and threw him back. Ignatius spun in the air and corrected himself, his dark eyes filled with glee "I honestly expected more from Tomas's son" the vampire said "then again, your only half vampire. You're worthless to Elysia, a mistake!" Vlad felt a pang of pain in his chest, was he worthless? A mistake? If Otis hadn't tried protecting him- no! Vlad kicked the thoughts out of his head, he wasn't worthless, and he wasn't a mistake. Otis believed in him, Nelly loved him like he was her own and Henry was possibly the best friend anyone could ask for, despite their fighting.

Vlad planted his feet on the ground and then pushed forward with Vampiric strength and speed. He slammed into Ignatius, who grabbed the boy by his hair as they fell. "you little fool, did you think that would really work?" he tugged at Vlad's hair "I've lived for 800 years, I know almost every attack and counter attack out there." Ignatius stood and dragged Vlad by his hair, the boy let out a scream of pain. Ignatius smiled and seemed to be encouraged by the boy's painful cries. The vampire grabbed the Halfling by the throat and pinned him up against a tree. His eyes locked on the sword in the vampires had. His heart raced as he tried to formulate a plan, anything that could get him out of this. Vlad's heart skipped a beat as the vampire moved the sword back and plunged it deep into the halflings chest.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Henry stopped in his tracks, Mellissa's hand still tangled in his. His eyes widened at the feeling in his chest "Vlad?" he whispered "what is it?" the girl asked, the boy didn't respond as he quickly looked around. Something was wrong, very wrong. The drudge felt as if he'd been stabbed and it worried him that it was Vlad that he was feeling. With little more than a 'I'll be right back' to his girlfriend, the blond took off into the crowd of people. His eyes searching for Vlad in the crowd, he was desperately hoping that it was just his imagination. The longer he looked, the more he became concerned. So far he couldn't find his best friend anywhere, then he caught a glimpse of a familiar old purple top hat. "Otis?" the blond human ran through the crowd and grabbed the vampire by the sleeve "Henry?" the blond haired vampire turned to look at the boy, as did Nelly "what's wrong, henry?" she asked, her eyes brimming with concern. "It's Vlad, I think he's in trouble." Henry said, Otis looked scared and confused. "Can you feel something is up?" Henry nodded "just a little while ago my chest started burning with pain." The boy said "Nelly, go back to the house. See if you find Vladimir along the way, we'll go looking for him as well." Vlad's adopted aunt nodded before the trio took off, leaving the fairgrounds behind.

Vlad looked down at the sword, his eyes widened in pain and fear. He'd been stabbed, stabbed straight through the heart with a silver sword. **_'You idiot!'_** Vlad trembled _'you are better than this, D'Ablo, Otis, and Vikas taught you to be stronger!'_ Ignatius ripped the sword out of the teen, a sadistic grin on his face. Vlad crumpled to the ground, blood pouring from the wound with every fading heartbeat _. **'Get up and fight, kill him'**_ Vlad's eyes flashed up at the vampire _' **kill him or he'll kill you and everyone else you care about!'**_ Vlad tightened his jaw and concentrated. He felt the power swimming through his veins, in his blood and in his very being. The blood around him started to subtly move and crawl, Vlad imagined a sword. One similar to that which Ignatius had, he felt the cold liquid touch his hand, he dared a glance down and saw the beginning of a sword. Vlad forced himself to his feet, his body tried to dissuade him. But he wasn't going to give in, he didn't care about the pain. He wasn't about to let everything he'd been taught go to waste.

Vlad tightened his grip on the blood blade, his eyes glaring at Ignatius "really?" he laughed "stabbed through the chest and your still ready to fight?" the vampire asked, "yeah, and I am going to kick your ass, grandfather or not." Vlad said and without another word, the boy jumped back into the woods and started to jump through the branches. He didn't have to look back and reach out with his blood to know that Ignatius was close behind him. His fangs bared and blood covered sword at the ready. Vlad reached out with his free hand grabbed a nearby branch and jumped up with Vampiric speed. He then waited as Ignatius approached and he dove down. The blade of his sword caught the vampire's shirt and slashed through as if it was nothing but air. Ignatius jumped back, his eyes focused on the teen. "How the hell did you get that?" the vampire glared at the sword in the boy's hand. "Something new I learned not to long ago." Vlad gave a toothy grin that included display of his sharp fangs. Ignatius began to back away "what's wrong? Did you think you were the monster here?" Vlad asked, his eyes slightly glowed purple. The vampire backed into a tree "they said you were just a normal vampire." He stared "normal? I'm far from normal." Vlad felt the wound in his chest burn with left over pain. The deep eyes of the vampire narrowed "you really should learn your place!" he snapped and then ran forward. Vlad didn't move as he watched the vampire, as the silver sword came down, he merely raised the blood sword and block the blow.

Vlad then kicked the vampire in the stomach, sending him flying. Vlad didn't waste any time as he ran after the vampire, who had just began to correct himself in midair. Vlad jumped and brought the sword forward, Ignatius blocked the blade with his how. Vlad put every bit of power and strength into the blow. Ignatius's eyes widened as the metal cracked "what?" the Halfling's eyes hardened as he pushed himself more. The eyes of the vampire widened in fear and confusion as the sharp metal shattered. Vlad then swung the blood sword in a horizontal motion, slashing through the vampire's stomach. Ignatius stumbled back in pain "how- how could a mistake like you, be so powerful?" Vlad walked forward. The scent of blood heavy in the air, his eyes focused on the vampire's throat. "I'm not a mistake, I am the Pravus." He said and took a step forward. Vlad felt chest throb and his fangs push free.

The urge to drink was becoming over whelming _'drink from him'_ Vlad didn't understand, he was a vampire. There for he shouldn't feel the urge to bite into another of his own kind **_'you are not just a vampire, you are more than that. Even they are your prey._** ' Vlad winced at the feeling, he needed blood. He was injured and he wasn't sure he could send a message to Otis. Vlad quickly plunged the blood weapon deep into the stomach of the vampire, pinning him against the tree if a similar fashion. Vlad then leaned forward, his fangs glistened with saliva. Vlad gripped the vampire's shoulders and kept him pinned as he scrapped his fangs along the side of Ignatius's throat. "What are you doing?" Vlad didn't respond **_'bite him, feed from him, his blood with help you.'_** Vlad felt his fangs sink into the vampire, blood flooded over his tong. Vlad felt amazing as he drank, the taste was unlike anything he'd ever had in his life. Part of Vlad understood why the vampire D'Ablo and Jasik had mentioned would drink from vampires. It was so much more rich and flavorful then human blood. Even human blood from the source, Vlad sank his fangs in deeper. As he drank, Ignatius began to go limp. But Vlad didn't stop, he couldn't stop. Vlad lost himself as he drank every available drop of blood from the vampire's body.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

A twig snapped under D'Ablo's feet, it had been intentional. It was a less risky way of getting the boy's attention without getting to close. D'Ablo watched as the boy stood there, staring his handy work. The vampire could feel the emotions radiating off the Halfling. He felt disgusted, angry, sad, confused, and scared. "Vladimir" D'Ablo softly said the boy's name, Vlad turned. Tears threatening to spill from his eyes. "What have I done?" he whispered, the vampire careful stepped forward. Though his face was a stoic mask, he felt fear. The boy was drenched in blood and he looked like a scared little rabbit. The vampire stopped a few inches from Vlad, "will you be alright?" he asked, D'Ablo started to remove his coat "I-I just fed…" he stuttered, D'Ablo had fully removed his coat "I just fed off and killed one of my own kind." Vlad shook as D'Ablo gently wrapped his coat around the boy. "You fed from him?" D'Ablo asked, shock and fear evident in his voice "yes…" D'Ablo glanced around "tell no one, I want to keep an eye on this and make sure it doesn't turn out badly." He said, Vlad nodded.

"Vlad?" a familiar voice rang through the woods, both vampires turned. "Meredith?" Vlad whispered, the girl in pink stood stone still. Her eyes looked terrified "oh god, Vlad are you alright?!" Vlad opened his mouth to speak, but D'Ablo walked in front of him "Vladimir is fine, but you should really go home." D'Ablo said, Vlad saw that D'Ablo was attempting to mind control her. "But…" her dark eyes shifted around and Vlad knew she'd seen it. She'd seen his terrible and bloody handy work, Vlad was ashamed and horrified of himself. "oh, oh my god" she whispered as she started to back away "Meredith" Vlad reached his arm out "wait" before he could take a step forward, Meredith let out a loud scream.

D'Ablo flinched, for a vampire, high pitched noises could be considered the bane of their existence. D'Ablo sighed and looked at Vlad, without a doubt he'd have to do quite a bit of memory and mind manipulation tonight before leaving for Stokerton. "Jesus fucking Christ, D'Ablo, what the hell are you doing to people out here?" the vampire glanced from the boy to one of his colleagues "Triage, good to see that you and your group made it." The woman waved him off "yeah yeah" she rolled her eyes "you gave us quite the mess to clean up D'Ablo. Mind me asking what the fuck happened?" D'Ablo smirked at Triage "well, let's just say there was a bit of a fight." He said, the vampire then noticed Vlad had rushed to the side of the girl. She seemed petrified with fear "what are we gonna do with her?" the female pointed at Meredith "I'll muddle her memories and make this all seem like a strange nightmare for her." D'Ablo said, Triage frowned and pulled a pack of cigarettes from her jacket pocket "that's a shame, I sorta hopped we'd take a bite out of the pretty thing. She does smell delicious." The vampire flashed the girl a grin, her fangs fully visible. "Bite me?" D'Ablo rolled his eyes, and glanced back at Triage, opening his mouth to speak when another shrill shriek broke the night.

Everyone looked back at the girl as she hit the ground with a loud thud "and now's she's unconscious" Triage lit her cigarette and pointed at the brunet. "Master Pravus, what happened?" D'Ablo asked, Vlad stuttered for words "I was trying to calm her down and she panicked again and then she just fainted." Vlad said, his eyes still wide in confusion and terror. He knelt down "will she be alright?" Vlad asked "I can hear her breathing and heart rate from here, I think she'll be fine." Triage set her bag down and looked over her shoulder. "D'Ablo, is everything ok?" the vampires watched as Jasik came through the tree line "yes, everything is fine." Vlad looked over at D'Ablo as the vampire approached and kneeled down. "Was that Vladimir screaming? Cause if it was, I am never letting him live down the maiden comment." Jasik said, Vlad glared at him "Maiden comment?" Triage asked, "don't ask, please." Vlad shook his head, D'Ablo's voice cut the conversation short as he spoke "Jasik, when I'm done modifying her memories, I need you to take her home." D'Ablo then started to concentrate. It wasn't hard, it never was with humans. D'Ablo felt the world around him dissipate and be replaced with the events of the evening. Only from the girl's point of view, D'Ablo watched everything roll by in a quick haze. He needed to find the right moment to make lack of memory seem natural to the human.

Vlad bit his lip as D'Ablo raised his head "there, she should wake up thinking that she fell asleep on the couch." He stood and dusted himself off "so she won't remember any of this?" Vlad asked "no, even if she does it will seem like a fading dream." Jasik walked over and Vlad snapped his attention to him "you have to promise me that you'll get her home safe and sound, and without getting bitten." Vlad said, the thief smiled "cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye" Vlad and D'ablo watched as the vampire did the motions of crossing his heart, flapping his arms like a bird, and then sticking an imaginary pastry in his eye. Vlad looked at D'Ablo who seemed disappointed in the vampire, "alright, thanks." Vlad said, Jasik just nodded and walked over, Vlad watched the vampire pick the girl up. D'Ablo and Jasik then looked at each other for a good long minute, Vlad would bet that they were having some sort of talk telepathically. Jasik then nodded and then turned and took off back in the direction of the main road.

Vlad's attention then turned back to the female vampire holding the cigarette "so, why are you here?" Triage looked at the young Halfling, her eyes were a green. Her hair had been died to a deep indigo blue and was pulled back in a short pony tail. Vlad glanced at her apparel, she wore a pair of light blue Doctor's scrubs, similar to what nelly wore to work. "She's the head of out clean up team, they are going to clean up the mess you and Ignatius made during your little…" D'Ablo paused "scuffle" Vlad raised an eye brow at his choice of words. Of all the words, scuffle wouldn't be the best to describe what had just happened. "And hide any evidence of its occurrence, as well as take the body back to the Stokerton council building." The vampire said "oh" Vlad said "yeah, we take care of the gory messes the council leaves behind after an execution or when you took the life of your first real meal." her eyes slanted and she smiled "which, don't worry. It's fairly common and happens all the time. Especially with young vampires." Vlad felt his shoulders slump, D'Ablo then cleared his throat "when Jasik gets back, I'll have him take you home." Vlad pulled the coat around him tighter "why can't you take me now?" Vlad asked, he actually was more than ready to get away from here. He wanted to shower and get all the blood off and lay down. His body still ached from the fight and the wound on his chest still slightly burned as it healed. "Because, as our darling council president he has to monitor all of this and do a shit tone of paper work." Triage said as she uncorked a bottle of a strange glowing red liquid. Vlad's shoulders slumped "come, I'll sit with you till he gets back." D'Ablo said Vlad glanced at his mentor, "alright" the pair walked back to the edge of the small clearing and sat bellow one of the larger trees.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Otis and Henry darted down the dark, empty streets of Bathery in their search for Vlad. They both had a good lead on where to find him. Considering otis's abilities and Henry's connection to the boy. But something had bother Otis when he reached out with his blood. Something that wasn't quite normal for the small town of humans. He sensed more than just Vlad in the vicinity of the town. He'd sensed at least 20 or more vampires. All of which were in the same area that he had sense his nephew in. Otis worried that D'Ablo had really been up to something. There was no reason for almost two dozen vampires to come to a small town, even to feed. The city was much easier and simpler to get blood from the source. The vampire was pulled from his thoughts as a flash of pink exited the nearby woods. Otis stopped in his tracks when he realized who it was. "Meredith?" Henry had noticed too, both blonds looked at each other before running over, Otis beat the boy by a long shot due to his Vampiric speed.

"Jasik!" Otis barked out, the young vampire stopped. "Otis Otis" he said with a smile "it's nice seeing you this evening." Jasik then frowned "but I do not have time to talk this evening." He said, Otis glared at him "what are you doing with her?" the vampire pointed to Meredith, who was out like a light. "The poor girl came across something she shouldn't have seen." Jasik said, "Poor thing fainted and D'Ablo messed with her memories a bit." Jasik said "what did she see?" Henry asked "the aftermath of Vladimir and Ignatius's fight." He said "it's a rather bloody scene." Otis cringed "is..." Otis didn't want to ask it, but he had to "is my nephew ok?" Otis's voice cracked "yes, he's fine." The vampire sighed "physically, at least." He whispered "I think he's really gonna need you again, follow the path in the forest." The vampire said, Otis looked to the side. "You'll see a few of Triage's workers and a lot of blood." He said before turning to walk off "should we get Meredith from him?" Henry asked and turned to look at the blue eyed vampire, who had already taken off in a sprint for the wooded path. "Otis wait!" the boy followed after, running as fast as he could.

D'Ablo looked down at Vlad, who had curled up in the grass and fallen into a deep sleep. His grey eyes watched the boy as he took in soft breaths of air and breather him out. "I'm finding it hard to believe he took down Ignatius." D'Ablo looked up, Triage had stopped her work and was squatting next to him. "It was him, alright. I watched from afar as they battled and it wasn't a pretty sight." The grey eyed vampire said with a sigh "what battle is?" the blue haired vampire asked, she stood and dropped the butt of the cigarette on the ground. "I'd like to see later, if you wouldn't mind." She said, D'Ablo just nodded "the rest of the council will too," the woman looked back at the boy "maybe this will convince everyone to just lay off for a while?" D'Ablo chuckled and shook his head "or cause them to increase their efforts to kill the boy." D'Ablo said "either way, I've got a lot more on my plate with him." The vampire leaned back against the tree. Another vampire called out from farther in the woods in Elysian "looks like someone found the Lucis" she said "sounds like David." D'Ablo said with a grin and then called out to the worker in Elysian. It wasn't long with an older man, who appeared to be in his mid-40s, came rushing towards him. D'Ablo simply extended his hand and the vampire placed the black cylinder in it. "Thank you" he said, the pair waited for the worker to leave before speaking. "I take it you're the reason it went missing a few months back?" Triage asked with a smile "yep, and the reason it will go unfound." He said and moved his coat aside to slip it back into Vlad's pocket. The vampire's green eyes widened "are you sure about that?" before D'Ablo could answer, another call broke the night.

"Otis, wait up!" the vampire would recognize that obnoxious voice anywhere. "Looks like we got a few more visitors." Triage said, flashing her fangs. "Leave the boy be, he's Vladimir's drudge." D'Ablo said "so, it's alright for him to be here?" the council president just shrugged "it seems Otis is with him, they're probably out looking for Vladimir." D'Ablo said, the loud snap of a twig because the pair took up. The blond haired vampire stood at the end of the path, his breathing heavy and ragged "Vladimir?" D'Ablo stood "calm down Otis, your nephew is fine." D'Ablo said, the blue eyes of the vampire were full of fear and worry. "What happened?" he snapped, "From my knowledge, Ignatius attacked Vladimir. The boy fought back and won, Ignatius is dead." Otis glanced over to the tree, a long black bag laid at its blood spattered trunk. "And Vladimir?" "He fell asleep, but he's fine. I give you my word." D'Ablo said, he then looked back at the sleeping boy. His drudge knelt beside him, shaking the boy awake. "Hey, Vlad" D'Ablo watched the boy stir from his slumber and sit up.

Vlad opened his eyes to see Henry standing over him "Henry?" the young Halfling sat up and looked around, he then saw Otis talking to D'Ablo. The vampire turned and looked at him, his steel grey eyes analyzing the scene before him. "Sleep well?" he asked "not really? How long was I out?" Vlad asked "oh, I don't know, twenty some odd minutes." Triage said, Vlad turned to look back at the female vampire with blue hair. "Oh, Triage, Jasik mentioned you and your group were out here." Otis said, Vlad got to his feet with some help from Henry. "Yeah, D'Ablo's antics left us an even bigger mess than normal." She said, Vlad looked at his uncle. Otis looked like he was going to rip D'Ablo apart, "help me over to them?" Vlad asked and looked at Henry, the blond haired teen nodded and Vlad leaned on him for support. In all truth, he was exhausted. Just as exhausted as the night he killed the slayers, but this time it was different. This time he remembered everything he had done, everything from start to finish. Vlad and Henry walked over "take them home, Otis" D'Ablo said "I'll stop by tomorrow to get my coat and we'll talk about this situation then." D'Ablo said, Vlad blinked. He didn't like the way D'Ablo had said that, it felt like something bad was going to happen to him or Otis. Vlad swallowed hard and looked at his uncle. Who seemed to resigned "alright, but I want to know everything that happened tonight." The blond said, his blue eyes looked from Vlad to D'Ablo. "And I'll tell you, I just want to get home and get cleaned up." Vlad said, Otis just nodded and Vlad made his way to his uncle's side.


	25. Chapter 25: To be Continued

Chapter 25

D'Ablo watched as Triage packed away the last of the empty glass bottles into her bag. "I've got to say D'Ablo, this has possibly been one of the biggest clean ups you had be do." Triage said, D'Ablo just took a pull off the cigarette that Triage had offered him just a while earlier. He considered her words, as well as the events of the night. The blue haired vampire turned her head when the council president finally spoke. "I didn't really expect it to be this big and this bad." He said, "I expected a small battle on the street and all you'd need to handle was the body and a bit of blood and guts." He said and dropped the smoking cylinder into the grass. His foot snuffed out any remaining fire and he looked up "really? With Ignatius involved?" she asked and zipped up the bag "I've been training that boy for months now, I expected a bit too much I suppose." D'Ablo pulled a small tube of sunscreen from his pocket and started to apply it to the exposed areas of his body. There was no way he'd get back home before sunrise. After finishing, the vampire slipped the tube back into his pocket and walked towards the path "coming?" the female vampire nodded and followed after D'Ablo. "So, what do you plan to do now?" Triage asked "continue training him, he is the Pravus after all." D'Ablo said. "I shouldn't really be surprised, should I?" she asked and then nudged him with her elbow "Mr. Senior Member of Alumno" D'Ablo gave her a glance "better make that 'Mr. Soon to be Ex-Senior Member of Alumno." He said solemnly, her deep green eyes narrowed. Her voice sounded shocked and angry "why?" D'Ablo cracked a smile "D'Ablo, what the hell did you do?" The vampire continued walking and blocked the vampire from his thoughts.

Triage, having had enough already, rushed in front of him and put a hand on his chest. D'Ablo raised an eye brow at her, though Triage was much shorter and of a smaller build, the woman had the strength to hold still both "D'Ablo, what the hell did you fucking do?!" the vampire rolled his eyes "it's not what I did that will get me in trouble." D'Ablo said "it's what I'm not doing" Triage's face changed to a look of confusion "what the hell does that mean?" D'Ablo pushed the vampire forward and they kept walking "it means, that I have all the information and proof that Vladimir Tod is the Pravus." He said "in fact I could prove it without a shadow of a doubt." He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out his pocket watch, it was nearly 5 am with an hour long drive to Stokerton. He sighed and cursed the shorter nights of summer. "And?" "And, I'm keeping it all to myself. I haven't sent a productive report back to the others in over four months." D'Ablo said, he really hadn't said anything about Vladimir tod, Otis, or the possible whereabouts of Tomas Tod. He'd kept everything to a small group of people, and made false or misleading reports back to the Alumno headquarters. "Why?" D'Ablo sighed "because, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the prophecy and what it really means for Vampire kind." D'Ablo said.

"Thinking?" Triage asked "what if we are wrong? What if it turns out the Pravus isn't supposed to be blood thirsty and war mongering?" he asked, the green eyes vampire didn't say anything as D'Ablo continued "what if he's supposed to be a peace keeper or a bridge between us and humanity?" Triage gave him a weird look, one that D'Ablo bet meant she thought he had either gone crazy or been replaced. "Alright, who the fuck are you and what did you do with my son?" the Vampire cringed at the word, Triage had barely ever used that with him. Though it was true this was his sire and 'mother', the only time she'd use the word 'son' was to explain his relationship to her. Or scold him when he was just a fledgling, but after a time, she'd stopped using it as much. "Still here," D'Ablo said with a grin "he's just been thinking to much." Triage furrowed her brow "really?" she leaned forward and grabbed his arm. Turning his wrist with a smile on his face "I don't know, that tattoo does seem a bit different." The council president pulled his wrist away.

The pair continued their walk down the side walk "so, are you gonna just resign from the group?" D'Ablo nodded "probably, if I continue waiting and acting like this, I might draw attention to Vladimir and the town." He said "and you don't want them anywhere near the boy?" the vampire shook his head "no, not even near this town." The vampires looked around at the stirring life of Bathery. Lights flicked on, cars were being started and dogs barked. For the humans of the town, it was just another work day. "And Vladimir?" Triage asked "teach him as much as I can and watch as he develops his powers." The vampire stopped in front of the school, where his care was still parked "and what about teaching him law and vampire history?" Triage asked "I'll leave that to Otis, if necessary I'll give him some lessons." He said, D'Ablo had done a bit of thinking, scratch that, the vampire had done a lot of thinking. It started when he wrote and sent the letter to the boy, then he looked over the various theories and thoughts vampires had of the Pravus. Something about it felt wrong with each one he would read. Hell, D'Ablo had even reached out to Dorian in secret and asked questions. "Oh, and between you and me…" D'Ablo paused considering if he should even say the words he was thinking.

He blinked, as if saying the words would be the thing that got him killed. The council president cleared his throat and found his voice "I think that boy, Pravus or not, has the power to become much more powerful than Em. There might even be the possibility of over throwing her in the future." D'Ablo said and walked to his car, Triage ran after him "are you bat shit crazy?" she hissed, "possibly, but I'm going to tell you the truth, I don't plan to put him up against her at all." He narrowed his slate colored eyes "but if it comes down to it, there might be a battle and I can't even begin to guess the effects the outcome will have on Elysia and Humanity." D'Ablo said, he pulled his keys from his pocket and clicked the remote. His car let out a soft click as it unlocked "that boy has so many possibilities, Tomas believed he would become a great man one day." Triage watched him "and so do you" D'Ablo nodded "have a good day, Triage." The blue haired vampire watched as D'Ablo closed the door to his car and the engine started up. As the vampire drove out of Bathery he glanced down at the empty passenger seat beside him. In it was a black envelop with a purple wax seal, a black envelop that that not been there when he parked the car to attend the festival the night before. He glanced back at the road before pulling over to the side. He picked up embedded in the seal was one of many the symbols belonging to members of the Alumno. With a sigh, D'Ablo leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. But it wasn't the group the letter was from that bothered him. It was the symbol itself that confused and somewhat terrified him. He knew of only one Vampire in the group to ever have such a symbol. D'Ablo gritted his teeth, it had to be a mistake. It just had to, people do not just come back from the dead. He knew from multiple sources that member was reported dead three years ago in a house fire, alongside his 'wife'. But the symbol in the wax was a perfect match to the ones he used to receive in the years prior. This Symbol was the Symbol of the group's original leader and founder, Tomas Tod.


End file.
